Nearly 4,000 passengers on a cruise ship Sunday disembarked in Miami without being medically screened for coronavirus despite a positive COVID-19 test from a passenger who left the ship days earlier, reports the Miami Herald.
In total, 3,877 passengers disembarked off the MSC Meraviglia, and several proceeded to Miami International Airport. The infected passenger disembarked March 8 and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19.
"If we have [the virus], it's going to spread throughout the country," one passenger who requested anonymity told the local newspaper. "When I say there was no check, there was none whatsoever. I expected us to have some kind of a screening. They didn't do a single thing. We walked straight off the ship. There wasn't any check on anyone for anything."
A spokesman for MSC cruises told the Herald no one on board had symptoms for the virus, and the ship "followed all protocols as required" in docking and disembarking.
The novel coronavirus has infected more than 165,000 people worldwide and killed more than 4,600. It has hit the cruise line industry especially hard, with several ships stranded at sea.
Some ships have docked with quarantined passengers aboard and others have been denied port, leaving them to anchor off the coast of a country.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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