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ALAMEDA COUNTY HEALTH CARE SERVICES AGENCY Colleen Chawla, Agency Director
Emergency Medical Services Agency Lauri McFadden, EMS Director
Karl Sporer, MD, Medical Director
1000 San Leandro Blvd., Suite 200 Main (510) 618-2050
San Leandro, CA 94577 Fax (510) 618-2099
MEMORANDUM
TO: All Alameda County EMS Providers and First Responders
FROM: Alameda County EMS Agency
DATE: March 8, 2020
RE: Grand Princess Cruise Ship
The Grand Princess cruise ship will be docking and disembarking their passengers at the Port
of Oakland tomorrow in order to better quarantine people and care for those who are
symptomatic. Passengers and crew on the cruise ship have been utilizing isolation precautions
on the ship and COVID-19 testing for symptomatic people has taken place. Twenty-one people
have tested positive for COVID-19, two passengers and nineteen crew members.
The Grand Princess cruise ship has been posted off the California coastline since last week,
after several passengers from its previous itinerary tested positive for COVID-19. Several
passengers and the crew carried over to the current itinerary and began exhibiting symptoms
prompting concern.
This is a state and federal operation, with local support. As of now, the plan is to quarantine the
majority of the passengers at military bases. Passengers requiring acute emergency care or
higher assessment will be sent to out-of-area hospitals, and only critically ill would be sent to
local or regional hospitals. Cruise ship staff will remain quarantined on their ship. No one from
the ship will be released into the community.
The AMR/FEMA National Medical Transport and Support Services (NMTS) Contract has been
activated to manage the patients disembarking from the cruise ship. At this time, there is no
need for organizations to upstaff in preparedness for cruise ship patients.
Should the Alameda County EMS system experience a surge in the coming days, the EMS
Surge Plan may be activated to assist in system response decompression.
Also, this a reminder to have a representative from your organization participate in the Alameda
County EMS Providers COVID-19 Planning Conference Call Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 10:30
AM.
Please remember that this is a fluid event, so plans are subject to change as needed in order to
maintain the health and safety of both the passengers, the community, and our health care
providers.