President Donald Trump wants to imprison the 4,500 passengers and crew of the COVID-19 stricken cruise ship, Grand Princess, so U.S. coronavirus numbers don't "double," an outcome that might damage his chance for re-election in November.
"I like the numbers being where they are. I don't need to have the numbers double because of one ship," said Trump during a visit to the Virginia headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Friday.
Trump said he disagrees with his medical experts who argue against keeping all the passengers -- even uninfected ones -- on board the ship. Trump, however, leaves the decision up to the experts.
"It wasn't the fault of the people on the ship either, ok? It wasn't their fault either, and they're mostly American, so I can live either way with it," he said. "I would rather have them stay on personally, but I fully understand if they want to take them off. I gave them the authority to make the decision."
Passengers aboard the Grand Princess were disgusted by Trump's comments.
"It's apparent to me that President Trump is not concerned about the crew and passengers aboard Grand, but rather the numbers," said Karen, a Canadian passenger who asked to be identified only by her first name.
Another passenger also said she indulged in a bit of Trump bashing, among other things, on Friday afternoon.
"He can come on board if he wants and serve us our food and bring me my towel," said Debbi Loftus in an interview with CNN.
Doctors and medical experts were outraged at Trump's statements, saying the unfortunate experience of those aboard the Diamond Princes cruise ship still quarantined in Japan proved ships are perfect petri dishes for quickly spreading COVID-19 to the uninfected population.
Trump's comments came after vice president Mike Pence, who heads the federal government's coronavirus task force, said tests had discovered 19 of the crew and two passengers testing positive for COVID-19. The finding is alarming since CDC only airlifted 46 testing kits to the cruise ship, which is riding anchor off the coast of San Francisco. It means 46% of those first tested are positive for the coronavirus.
Many passengers interviewed by the Los Angeles Times said they would have preferred the news about the 21 infected be given to them first. They only learned about the bad news from watching TV news or hearing it from the ship's captain who announced it over the ship's intercom system. The captain apologized, saying he hadn't been informed of the number beforehand.
As of Friday evening, there were 338 confirmed cases in 17 states, according to data from Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE). There are 14 confirmed deaths. Of this total, 12 are in King County, Washington and one each in Placer County, California and Snohomish County in Washington.
There were a total of 221 cases in 17 states as of Thursday night and 148 cases on Wednesday. New York has 33 confirmed coronavirus cases, said Gov. Andrew Cuomo Friday. He said more than 4,000 people are under "precautionary quarantine" because of possible exposure or their medical circumstances. Indiana announced its first presumed COVID-19 case on Friday.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf reported two confirmed coronavirus cases Friday morning. Maryland announced three cases, and Colorado confirmed two Thursday night.
