YOKOHAMA, Japan — A Utah couple is among the 5,000 people quarantined due to the coronavirus on two cruise ships near Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Karey and Roger Maniscalco from St. George just finished a 15 day cruise in Asia, but now they’ll be staying on the ship a little longer now that the quarantine is in place.
“Telling us that we cannot leave our rooms and that the Chinese government informed them that we’re quarantined into our rooms and that they notify us later as to how long we’d have to stay in our rooms,” said Karey Maniscalco.
Wednesday morning a quarantine was put in place after ten passengers were confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus aboard the Diamond Princess.
“ When the helicopters were surrounding our ship first thing this morning, when they notified us that we were quarantined around 10 a.m. for 14 days, all of a sudden we heard helicopters surrounding the ship," she said. "So there were about 14 on our side that we could see helicopters and so of course, we went outside to see what was going on."
The Maniscalco’s didn’t prepare to stay an extra two weeks.
“We had scheduled this so we would be back in time, we both run businesses, so this put a big damper on that," Karey Maniscalco said. "I’ll try to work the best I can and so will he."
The crew is delivering 3 meals a day to their room.
“I think we’re going to go a little stir crazy for sure we were definitely not prepared to be stuck in a room you know after a 15-day cruise you’re certainly ready to get off the boat."
Both Karey and Roger say they say feel completely fine and aren’t feeling any symptoms of the coronavirus. They tell us the ship is no longer docked but will return to port to retrieve more supplies.
