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SALT LAKE CITY — After spending almost two weeks quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan, Mark Jorgensen said it took him 24 hours to get to the next stage before he could have a vacation from, what was supposed to be, his vacation.
The process started around 9:30 p.m. Sunday night in Japan when the passengers heading back to the United States were told to wait in line for a bus that would take them to the airport. Jorgensen said while waiting in line those who tested positive for coronavirus were evacuated to area hospitals.
He waited an hour in line with 150 people who had to be processed with the state department and immigration offices.
"They did take our passports which is kind of unnerving being in a foreign country without your passport, but I think they just needed to stamp them all out of Japan at the same time without having to do that individually," Jorgensen said in a Facebook live.
After an hour everyone was loaded on the bus to wait some more.
"We got loaded up on these buses and I don't know what was going on," recalled Jorgensen. "I guess it's just trying to coordinate all of this, the logistics of getting 150 quarantined people from one location to another one in the middle of a great big city was challenging."
They waited for three hours without anyone knowing what they were waiting for. Some felt the effects of the wait.
"One guy was really upset and had to go to the bathroom," said Jorgensen. "He really had to go and they finally let him get off and literally gave him a jug to go in."
They loaded onto cargo planes with no windows and chairs bolted to the floor and waited some more.
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"It ain't Delta One, but it's headed in the right direction," said Mark Jorgensen in a Facebook post."We sat there for another two hours waiting to take off. We flew to California, that was actually ahead of schedule — that took about nine and a half hours — and we landed and then we sat for another couple of hours getting off the plane," Jorgensen said.
After going through more tests and getting his luggage, when Jorgensen finally arrived to his room at Travis Airforce Base he figured it had been 24 hours since he left the ship— 10 hours of travel and 14 hours of waiting.
Now that he's settled into his two-bedroom "bachelor pad" he faces 14 days of more waiting and more uncertainty. He doesn't know who's in charge, if he can go outside or if he will be checked regularly by a doctor.
"Somebody dropped off some breakfast this morning and said they'd be back this afternoon to take my temperature," he told KSL-TV's Ashley Kewish. "They said, 'Put a chair outside. We will just leave your meals on that.'"
His wife Jerri Jorgensen is still at a hospital in Japan. Mark Jorgensen said while his wife tested positive for the virus after developing a fever on Friday she currently has no symptoms.
Melanie Haering of Tooele County, who was on the cruise with her husband John, also said that she has landed safely in California. John Haering, stayed behind in Japan when he also showed symptoms of coronavirus. He has now been diagnosed with pneumonia.
"We are both very worried right now. Thank you for your continued prayers. John has no prior medical issues. He is so healthy and not on any medications. We feel he is getting good care," Melanie Haering said in a Facebook post earlier Monday.
