SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Passengers from the Grand Princess cruise ship will be quarantined at MCAS Miramar amid coronavirus fears, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Sunday.
According to the Department, the ship will dock temporarily in a non-passenger port in the San Francisco Bay.
Passengers will then be transferred to several federal military facilities throughout the country for medical screening, COVID-19 testing, and a 14-day quarantine. The earliest they could arrive is Tuesday, according to a DoD spokesperson.
The nearly 1,000 passengers who are California residents will complete the quarantine at MCAS Miramar and Travis Air Force Base. It's unclear how many of the 1,000 passengers will be housed at Miramar.
"MCAS Miramar is preparing to support HHS and their federally mandated quarantine for Grand Princess travelers," a spokesperson for the base said.
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“The Department of State is working closely with the home countries of several hundred passengers to arrange for repatriation to their countries,” the department said in a statement.
The ship was previously identified as a breeding ground for several cases on a previous trip.
A passenger who is believed to have been infected while on the ship in February was the first coronavirus death in California.
"The safety, health and well-being of our guests and crew is always our top priority, and we continue to make every effort to ensure they are safe and comfortable while they remain onboard," Princess Cruises said in a statement.
So far, 11 people in the U.S. have died from the virus and at least 400 cases have so far been reported. A majority of the deaths occurred in Washington State.
