The Story Of An American Man Trapped For 62 Days On A Ship After Testing Positive For COVID-19

Photo illustration (Oskars Sylwan / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - A man from Winter Springs, Florida admitted to being trapped on a cruise ship and then transferred to a hospital ship in an Italian port for 62 days. He was trapped after testing positive for COVID-19 in early April.

"Sometimes there are bad days and some days are fine," said Taylor Grimes, 28, told CNN his story, Monday, May 18.

According to Grimes, he sailed in mid-January from Genoa, Italy as an employee of MSC Cruises, a global shipping company based in Switzerland. He worked in the jewelery shop section of the company.

On March 17, fellow Grimes employees tested positive for COVID-19. After consul to doctors and ship captains, Grimes volunteered to self-isolate. Unfortunately, 15 days later, he was also positive for the corona virus.

From then on, Grimes was tested seven times back and forth. The result was positive, but on the second test he tested negative again.

Taylor Grimes' mother, Ann Grimes is concerned about her son's mental health. "Last Monday he was sobbing on the phone, he said he wanted to go home," he said.

What did it take so long?

The United States Embassy (US) confirmed to the Taylor family that it is Italian policy not to allow cruise ship employees to leave the ship until they test negative for COVID-19 after being tested twice. But according to the accounts of the Grimes family, testing for COVID-19 there is so cryptic.

"We are not questioning what the standards are. But, the fact of the test is very vague. How is it possible to be quarantined for 62 consecutive days and still test positive?" complained Ann.

It all started when the cruise ship he worked for had dropped all passengers on March 9 and 10. Meanwhile about 200 employees remain inside. When he was first tested, Grimes tested positive. He was then transferred to the guest cabin which had a balcony.

Until one day without any warning he was given personal protective equipment to wear and was taken to the local hospital for testing. At that time, Grimes wore PPE from 8 am to 2 pm local time.

After a long wait, the ambulance transports Grimes to a hospital ship. At that time he was taken without wearing head protective equipment. After knowing he would not be returning to the cruise ship, "I then had a mental breakdown," said Grimes.

Grimes was isolated in a small cabin similar to a ship's crew. The cabin, Grimes said, was previously used to treat local residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 but are not being hospitalized.

Grimes said he tested negative on his seventh test on Saturday. He hopes that his second test result is negative. After testing negative he plans to fly back to the United States on a commercial airline.