Editor’s note: This is the fifth story following eight local travelers who were quarantined when passengers on their cruise ship fell ill with coronavirus. We will continue to follow this story in the days ahead.
Dave and Judy Lewis of Concord, our pipeline to news from one of Earth’s many quiet battlefields, relayed a mixed bag of information from San Diego this weekend.
While nothing official has been announced, Dave reports that Charlie Currier of Pembroke tested positive for the coronavirus sometime last weekend. He also said Charlie feels great, nearly recovered. Meanwhile, Charlie’s wife, Rose, fell down and injured herself in some way Saturday, although the Lewises were not clear on the extent of her injury.
They said Rose had some type of illness as well, and she was admitted to the hospital Saturday. No further information has been released as these four long-time friends remain quarantined in separate spots, in close proximity, after 19 passengers and two crew members aboard the Grand Princess tested positive.
“She’s not feeling well,” said Dave, whose wife has spoken to Rose by phone. “She took a tumble.”
They were quarantined on board on Feb. 27 and have been trapped ever since, moving from isolation on the ship, to squeezing onto a bus, back to being quarantined at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar since earlier this month.
They’ve all been tested for the coronavirus, but only Charlie has been told the results. He was on the cruise celebrating the couple’s 60th wedding anniversary and his approaching 80th birthday when the world changed.
With his illness confirmed and his wife sick and later injured, they were moved from the Air Force base, still home to the Lewises, and sent to a nearby Ramada Inn, which apparently has been transferred into a comfortable place for those who have tested positive.
Rose could get confirmation on her condition any day, as can Judy and Dave. All three tests were taken more than a week ago, making a hard adjustment harder. The Lewises quarantine period ends Tuesday, and just like the virus, confusion is in the air.
“I’m getting a little anxious, sure,” Dave said. “They say we have to leave on Tuesday and we don’t even have our results. Do we go home? Do we go home and let people stay there? There are too many unanswered questions.”
Two other couples – Frank and Deb Keane of Allenstown, and Marcia and Bill Krueger of Concord – were flown home Tuesday and remain there under a 14-day quarantine.
No doubt the couples out west will be quarantined when they get here. Dave and Judy will return to an empty house, after their daughter had moved home recently. Now, she’s looking for her own apartment before their house is essentially closed for two weeks.
“People don’t realize that this keeps going downhill and it affects a lot of people in so many different ways,” Frank said on the phone.
At press time, test results had not come back yet for the three of them. Ironically, the sickest person may be the happiest.
“I spoke to (Rose) before,” Deb Keane said from her home in Allenstown. “They are being treated like a king and que en. They have a huge room with a kitchen.”