St. George couple remains positive, despite more than two weeks of quarantine
A Utah couple’s trip on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan ended with them more than 5,000 miles apart quarantined after an outbreak of Covid-19 or the Coronavirus.
Mark and Jerri Jorgensen have been quarantined for more than two weeks now. The St. George couple began their quarantine together onboard the cruise ship.
“It was kind of fun and games and get to stay away from work that much longer, yeah that got kind of real and serious when that happened,” Mark said.
Mark is talking about when Jerri tested positive for the virus and was taken to a hospital in Japan.
The news came as a shock to them both. “I go, ‘Me’? Because I am never sick. I don’t even get a cold. I haven’t had a cold in 30 years, I just don’t get sick,” Jerri said.
Mark is now in California where he is under a 14-day quarantine, and Jerri is quarantined in a hospital in Japan.
Jerri was the second Utahn aboard the ship to test positive for the virus. John Haering of Tooele also has the Coronavirus.
Jerri isn’t feeling sick at all, she said. She is passing the time by doing yoga and Pilates, as well as, watching Netflix and talking to friends and family. It’s gotten much easier she admits.
“The first two or three days that I was here at the hospital, I had no Wi-Fi, no TV, no newspaper. It was like isolation in Isolation. It was like double isolation,” she said.
Through it all, both Jerri and Mark have stayed positive. Jerri said she makes that choice to be happy and positive every day.
It’s difficult being apart, Mark said, although they talk a lot. The couple is understandably ready to come home.
“It’s still that feeling of being locked up, which is not pleasant,” Mark said.
Jerri is hoping to be home soon.
“Still no symptoms but they are coming in today at 11 to test me again. If I am negative today and have another negative one tomorrow, I get to go home,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released this statement to KSTU FOX 13 NEWS:
“There are more than 100 American citizens still onboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship or in hospitals in Japan. The latest guidance includes travel restrictions. After leaving the Diamond Princess, these passengers and crew will be required to wait at least 14 days without having symptoms or a positive coronavirus test result before they are permitted to board flights to the United States.”
For updates from the United States Embassy in Japan, click here
