Kara and Mark Schiestel of Alameda, Sask., have been quarantined in their room on board The Grand Princess for four days. The ship has been idling on the coast of California after 21 passengers tested positive for COVID-19.
As the owners of a large organic grain and cattle farm near the town of Alameda, Sask., Kara and Mark Schiestel are used to roaming vast and wide open spaces.
But for the last four days, the couple has been cooped up inside their cramped, three-by-six-metre room aboard The Grand Princess.
That’s the American cruise ship on which 19 crew members and two passengers have become infected with COVID-19, the illness caused by novel coronavirus.
“We are doing good,” Kara Schiestel said over Facebook Messenger when asked about their health Sunday afternoon.
Since Thursday, passengers have been confined to their rooms under a mandatory self-quarantine order while the ship idled off the coast of San Francisco.
“The time has given us time to reflect,” Kara said. “We have a busy year of farming ahead of us and calving is just starting. Thankfully we have a great bunch of kids back home. The time alone with each other has proven that [Mark] is much better at cards than me.”
While Kara has an underlying health condition that she believes makes her high-risk, she is staying positive.
“I’m a little worried cause you deal with a lot of staff regularly on a cruise,” she said. “But I have faith everything will be OK.”
The Schiestels, as well as another couple from Alameda who are also onboard, get updates from the Princess cruise line through a company Facebook page.
According to the latest Facebook post, the ship and its 3,500 passengers (including crew) will finally berth in Oakland, Calif., on Monday, though Kara said she remained unsure where she, Mark and the 235 other Canadian passengers will go after docking.
According to the ship’s captain, guests who require acute medical treatment will be transported to health care facilities in California.
Healthy Californians will go into quarantine