JOHNSON CITY, TENNESSEE: Both my parents were on the Diamond Princess. When the cruise was to end they were told a passenger that had gotten off in Hong Kong had tested positive for COVID-19 and they were going to test contacts and be released the next day. Ten people tested positive so they were told that they would be quarantined on the ship for 2 weeks and released. My dad is a physician and immediately recognized quarantine protocols were not being followed. He contacted Senator Roe and who he knew and arranged a meeting with the CdC, NIH,HHS and homeland security and arranged for the Americans to be evacuated to the US to be properly quarantined. Many countries followed suit and evacuated their citizens.

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The plan of Japan’s ministry of health was still to consider the boat quarantine and to release at 2 weeks. On the day the Americans were evacuated my mom tested positive. They literally were ready to go out the door and their luggage had already been taken. She was told she could not go on the flight.

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My Dad opted to stay since he would not leave my mom but he remained on the ship and she was taken to a Japanese hospital. She never really had any symptoms other than a mild cough and had a normal CT scan.
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My mom wAs in a room with 4 others from the ship that did not speak the same language and they communicated with google translate. None of the people she was with had significant symptoms. They were kept till the had 2 consecutive negative tests but there was some delay due to shortage of tests.
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My dad remained on the ship and was told his 2 week quarantine started over due to exposure to my mom.
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Japan let over 1000 people off the boat who obviously had never really been quarantined. I actually believe this was a large part of what started the world wid epidemic.
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Less than a week later all public schools in Japan were shut down, but international travel continued.
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After many passengers were released my dad was finally moved to a quarantine and the 2 weeks was started over again. This time he said proper protocols were followed.
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My mom was released after consecutive negatives and flew back to the US. My dad remained an additional week prior to his release from quarantine and then flew home. By the time he flew home it had started to spread world wide and countries were starting to limit travel.
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My mom fully recovered and basically never actually felt sick. My dad never tested positive although he was never tested till ready to leave and could actually have had an asymptomatic case and actually got over it before he ever got tested. Both are doing well with no issues.