SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) — Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after California saw its first coronavirus death on Wednesday.
The victim was an elderly man who died Wednesday morning at a hospital in Roseville where he was in isolation. He had recently been on a Princess cruise ship.
At least one other person on board that trip was also infected. That ship then docked in San Francisco.
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Now there are questions about whether that victim may have exposed other people to the virus in the Bay Area.
The Grand Princess cruise ship then left for another trip, but it has now been ordered to turn back to San Francisco with people on board, experiencing flu-like symptoms.
Placer County Public Health officials say the Rocklin man had become sick aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship two days earlier as it headed back to San Francisco from Mexico.
“Where this person was infected, what the exposure is is not clear,” Chris Braden, with the CDC said. “Not clear that Mexico was the source of the illness, it may have been someone else on the boat, not necessarily an exposure because of Mexico.”
Wednesday morning, the man died and now health officials say he potentially exposed those at San Francisco’s cruise ship terminal when he got off the ship and those he encountered during his trip back to Placer County.
“If you have fleeting contact with an individual with COVID-19 you would not be at increased risk, but if within 6 feet of that person for an extended period of time — more than a few minutes — that would put you at risk,” Aimee Sisson, Place County Public Health, said.
It turns out there are several passengers and members of the crew who stayed aboard the Grand Princess for a trip to Hawaii who are now showing flu-like symptoms.
The Grand Princess was going down to Ensenada, Mexico from Hawaii — but now those plans have been called off.
It was going to return here to Pier 27, but those plans have been put on hold.
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