After ordered to cruise off the California coast for the last 3 days, a cruise ship with 3000 passengers and crew will dock inside San Francisco Bay at the port of Oakland, on the bay's east Shore. This comes after Health officials from the state delivered coronavirus test kits by helicopter to be used to begin testing those same people on board the ship. Controversy has surrounded all the decisions involved from the waiting time to the confusion related to the ship's itinerary that include stops in Hawaii and Mexico, and discharging passengers at every stop.
California governor, Gavin Newsom, has authorized the docking location despite some verbal opposition from a low level politician who felt aggrieved by the dock site given that San Francisco is the ship's home port(although it sails under a foreign flag.
While the focus in the US has been the State of Washington and the deaths of 14 residents in a nursing home there, California has the numbers to indicate this could be the location of another serious outbreak of infections. The passengers will be removed from the ship and sent ot 2 military bases: one near Sacramento(Travis AFB), and one in SoCal(Miramar). They will be quarantined for 14 days and monitored and observed for symptoms(fever, cough, headache). Seniors and other sensitive individuals will be closely watched.
The Chinese government announced that there appears to be a slowdown in new infections. Health authorities are doubtful that China is being truthful given the government's unreliability on statistics.
Italy has announced further restrictions on travel within its borders, especially in the northern provinces near Milan. The entire country is taking a huge economic hit as tourists and travel agents change plans due to conditions related to the infections of coronavirus. The City of Venice will be sharply restricted, given its seaport location and the frequency of cruise ships to stop for a few days.
In Greece, refugees seeking passage through the coountry have been forcibly turned back at the Turkish/Greece border. The president of Turkey has told Syrians that they can enter the EU from his country, contrary to reality. It will continue to be a difficult situation for all refugees in the area.
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