Florida in cruise-ship standoff, New York collects its dead
Published:Wednesday | April 1, 2020 | 9:16 AM
NEW YORK (AP) — Florida officials were locked in a standoff with two cruise ships steaming toward the coast Tuesday as more coronavirus hot spots flared around the country and embattled New York City used forklifts to load bodies onto refrigerated trucks in plain view outside overwhelmed hospitals.
Across the country, Americans braced for what President Donald Trump warned could be a “hell of a bad two weeks,” with the White House projecting 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the US before the outbreak is over.
Federal, state and local officials negotiated over whether two Holland America cruise ships with sick and dead passengers may dock at Port Everglades, Florida.
More than 300 US citizens are on board.
Two deaths have been blamed on the virus, and nine people have tested positive, the cruise line said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that the state’s health care system is stretched too thin to take on the passengers: “Just to drop people off at the place where we’re having the highest number of cases right now just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.”
Trump said later that he would speak with his fellow Republican. “They’re dying on the ship,” the president said.
“I’m going to do what’s right. Not only for us, but for humanity.”
Over the weekend, the Coast Guard issued new rules directing all cruise ships to remain at sea where they may be sequestered “indefinitely” during the outbreak and be prepared to send any severely ill passengers to the countries where the vessels are registered.
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