Dillsburg couple faces two more weeks in quarantine

Kaylee Renfrew

Intern Reporter/Dillsburg Banner

Just days away from ending their two-week quarantine aboard the cruise ship Diamond Princess off the shore of Japan, a Dillsburg couple, is back in the United States for a second confinement.

At midnight, Sunday Feb. 16, Bill and Colette Smedley boarded a plane in Tokyo, along with 158 other passengers, to make the 12-and-a-half hour flight back to the United States. Before they landed, the Smedleys were unsure of where they were headed. They only knew they were flying back to the states to a military base in either California or Texas, said Bill Smedley.

“We took a caravan of 12 buses through Tokyo, with lights flashing, to the airport,” Bill said.

A total of more than 300 American passengers were flown back to the United States in old, military style aircraft. Bill said their plane, which was headed for San Antonio, Texas, had old, temporary air plane seats, a strapped-in port-a-potty, a cooler of beverages and brown bagged lunches for the passengers.

“From what we understand, they were not taking anyone who tested positive before they boarded on the plane,” Bill said. After the planes landed, however, the Smedleys learned that 14 people had tested positive for coronavirus, including passengers who had been on the their plane.

After landing in San Antonio, the infected travelers were sealed in an impromptu quarantine with a plastic tarp and flown to Omaha, Nebraska.

As of Tuesday, another three people housed on the Texas base tested positive for coronavirus and moved to the hospital.

Now at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the Smedleys are starting a second two-week quarantine. Despite that, they say they are pleased that they now have a window to look out of, which is an improvement from their windowless interior room on the cruise ship. They also have more living space in a one- bedroom apartment with a kitchenette.

“The people here are a lot more conscious about the potential of infection than they were on the ship,” Bill said. “The employees working on the ship were just wearing masks. The people here have gowns, masks, face screens and gloves. The precautions here are a lot higher.” Instead of self-medical checks, health officials are conducting temperature checks on the quarantined travelers.

The couple was celebrating their 33rd wedding anniversary with a 29-day cruise when the trip took a turn for the worse. With bags packed at the end of their trip and ready to leave, they were informed they would be held for quarantine due to a coronavirus outbreak on the ship. To date, officials say more than 621 passengers from the Diamond Princess have been infected from among more than 3,711 passengers and crew members originally on board. As compensation for the inconveniences passengers are facing during the quarantine, Princess Cruise Lines are refunding the full price of the cruise, as well as offering voyagers a free cruise of the same value in the future.

The Smedleys continue to have a good attitude about the situation. “It's going to be boring, but that's the reality of it,” said Bill. When he is finally back in Dillsburg, he said he is simply going to walk around his yard, enjoy the view and just appreciate being home.

For more information see the February 20, 2020 edition.