CDC: Re-test confirms Westerdam cruise ship passenger ‘never had coronavirus’
After chaos for a cruise ship of passengers and crew, an 83-year-old American woman who was said to have tested positive for coronavirus in Malaysia has been re-tested and “never had coronavirus to our knowledge,” the CDC told USA TODAY late Friday.
“I have confirmed that all the passengers were tested, and they have come back negative for coronavirus, including the person who initially tested positive,” CDC spokesperson Richard Quartarone said Friday. He added that the hospitalized woman “may have had a respiratory illness, but if she did, it was not COVID-19.”
The CDC clarified Sunday, per spokesperson Kristen Nordlund, that no Westerdam passenger testing has been done at CDC, which “is aware that follow-up testing among more than 1,500 passengers from the Westerdam has all been negative.”
At this time, CDC considers passengers from the Westerdam to be at “no risk” or “low risk” of coronavirus infection.
Given this level of risk, the CDC said Sunday, testing of Westerdam passengers for coronavirus is not recommended unless additional exposures are identified to warrant testing.
Earlier Friday, USA TODAY learned the American passenger was still in a hospital with symptoms. Holland America’s “Care Team” remained on the ground to provide support to the woman and her husband, cruise line spokesperson Sally Andrews told USA TODAY in an email.
“We are happy to hear that she is recovered and hope that she and her husband will be able to make their way home soon,” Andrews said.
In a statement Saturday, the Malaysian Ministry of Health said the patient was showing improvement though she was still being monitored for a slight cough. The ministry maintained that she originally tested positive for coronavirus after being diagnosed with pneumonia and put into an isolation ward.
“Oropharyngeal and nasopharyngeal clinical samples were taken for investigations. Both samples were tested twice at the Institute for Medical Research and found to be positive for COVID-19 infection” on Feb. 15 for both repeated tests, the statement said.
She was treated with antiviral medication, showing improvement after a 72-hour period before testing negative for the virus multiple times, the ministry said.
The news that the woman has been cleared comes one day after the Cambodian Ministry of Health confirmed that the 747 crew members still on board the Westerdam tested negative for coronavirus; 781 passengers who were still in the country were cleared, too.
Throughout the cruise, Holland America maintained that no one on board had symptoms or tested positive for coronavirus, though the MS Westerdam was turned away at multiple ports, including Japan, Guam and Thailand, until Cambodia welcomed the ship.
The Westerdam departed Hong Kong on Feb. 1 and was scheduled to disembark in Shanghai on Saturday before coronavirus gripped mainland China and forced itinerary changes.
According to the South China Morning Post, Cambodia is questioning the authenticity of Malaysia’s initial positive test.
Cambodia’s health ministry, as reported by the Chinese newspaper, said in a statement that “the irregularity of the testing results by Malaysian authorities made all passengers on the Westerdam cruise ship scared and confused” and massively delayed those trying to get home.
“Today, justice is given to Cambodia and all the passengers on the ship,” said Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, according to the media outlet.
Steve Muth, a passenger from Michigan who was on the Westerdam with his family, has his own suspicions about the validity of the American woman’s coronavirus test.
“I think that many, including myself, are very suspicious of the first test results that indicated she was positive,” he said in an email to USA TODAY on Friday. “This false-positive test result has caused untold damage to hundreds of innocent passengers on the Westerdam from denied boarding on flights home to public shunning.”
Some of that damage was financial. Elly Chybowski, who was traveling aboard the Westerdam with her husband, Timothy, was routed on flights from Cambodia through Tokyo and Dallas/Fort Worth on their way home to Madison, Wisconsin. Then “roughly two hours before our connecting flight from (Tokyo) to Dallas, we discovered that our tickets had been cancelled for unknown reasons,” she told USA TODAY by email.
Panicked and unable to get answers, the couple rebooked flights on their own dime, an out-of-pocket expense that totaled $5,130. They arrived home Wednesday.
Once home, the couple were contacted by their local public health department, Chybowski wrote Friday, noting that they had shared a dining room table with the woman who initially tested positive on the ship.
Considered a “medium-risk exposure,” the Wisconsin couple have self-quarantined until the end of the monitoring period on Feb. 27, to mitigate the possibility of infecting others. Chybowski’s physician husband has not been able to return to his practice, and their adult children drop off food in their garage.
“The disruption to the lives of so many is tremendous,” stressed Chybowski. “The emotional stress to all of us during the time of uncertainty before we got home is immeasurable.”
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