Family of Cruise Ship Passenger who Died of COVID-19 Sues Carnival Cruises

The family of a California cruise ship passenger who contracted COVID-19 on the Grand Princess and later died has sued Princess Cruises and its parent company (Carnival Cruises) in federal court stating that the companies should have known passengers on board were sick and should not have accepted more passengers.

Ronald Wong, 64, and his wife, Eva boarded the Grand Princess in February end from San Francisco, Mexico. A month later, Wong died in a California hospital after testing positive for coronavirus. Wong’s wife, Eva was also tested positive for the virus, but fortunately recovered.

As per the lawsuit, filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Wong’s family claims that the Princess and its parent company, Carnival Corp. should have known that a passenger on the ship’s previous voyage had tested positive for COVID-19.

After reports emerged that several passengers on board the Grand Princess had contracted the coronavirus, the cruise ship docked at the Port of Oakland on March 9 and hundreds of passengers were transported to two military bases in California for a 14-day quarantine. The Wong couple were taken to the Travis Air Force base.

On March 14, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a no-sail order for cruise ships.

Initially, the Wong couple didn’t had any symptoms. However, Ronald Wong developed a fever and cough, and was taken to a hospital in Vallejo, California, on March 16 where the couple tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.

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A total of 131 people aboard the ship tested positive for the coronavirus, and five later died.

Almost a dozen lawsuits have been filed by the passengers on the Princess cruises.