Utah couple quarantined on cruise ship after 11 test positive for novel coronavirus

YOKOHAMA, Japan — A St. George couple will be adding 14 more days to their trip after they and over 3,000 people were quarantined on a cruise ship where 11 passengers have tested positive for the deadly novel coronavirus.

”We literally were packed and ready to go and just thought we were going to get off the ship and fly home,” Mark Jorgensen said.

But that didn’t happen and the couple, along with 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew members, will be quarantined on the Princess Cruises ship for two weeks.

“We are just kind of living in the unknown a little bit but we both roll with that really well,” Jerri Jorgensen said.

They said on the last day of their trip, cruise ship officials announced at dinner that they had a passenger infected with the coronavirus who left the ship.

“The dining room went quiet and everybody just looked at each other and thought ‘are you kidding?’” Jorgensen said.

Officials said the 80-year-old man from Hong Kong likely boarded the ship with the virus and left seeking medical help after five days on board. That prompted Japanese health officials to go room to room on Tuesday, checking each passenger.

“They just took temperatures and asked general questions and I guess in the course of doing that they found 10 more people that had the virus,” Jorgensen said.

The Jorgensens said food was being delivered to their room, where they will spend the next 14 days. They remained optimistic, even though their trip wouldn’t be ending the way they had planned.

“It’s ending on a different note than what we expected but we are fine, we are absolutely fine,” Jorgensen said.

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