The City and Borough of Juneau says COVID-19 case numbers have increased from a small cruise ship that ended its voyage after people tested positive in Petersburg last week.
The American Constellation has been tied up in the capital city since Saturday. Passengers flew out of Juneau after docking there and the crew remained on board. Since last Friday, another seven people from the ship have tested positive, driving the total case count to 10. Three of the 10, along with their close contacts, stayed behind in Petersburg last week to isolate and quarantine.
A press release from Juneau’s city government says some of the new positives came back for close contacts isolating in Petersburg, while others received positive test results in Juneau.
Individuals who test positive for COVID-19 isolate for 10 days and close contacts are directed to quarantine for 14 days.
State health and emergency officials Wednesday praised the response of American Cruise Lines, which owns the Constellation, on a weekly COVID update.
“The good news story about the American Constellation is the cases were identified very early,” said Bryan Fisher, the state’s director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management. “The company made the right decision to terminate the rest of that cruise and to isolate the folks that tested positive and all.”
Juneau’s emergency operations center says its working with the company along with health departments at the state and local levels. That EOC planned another round of testing Thursday for the 43 people still on board the Constellation.
Meanwhile, Petersburg’s case count was 11 by Thursday morning, according to the Petersburg Medical Center’s dashboard.
