The Royal Caribbean cruise ship on which dozens of people were screened for coronavirus docked in New Jersey on Friday morning — and four passengers were rushed to Newark’s University Hospital “out of caution,” officials said.
A brief clip tweeted by NBC 4 New York reporter Tracie Strahan shows two people being removed from the Royal Caribbean Anthem of the Seas and loaded onto waiting ambulances at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne.
One of the four travelers who had come from China for the Caribbean cruise — and are now hospitalized — had a fever on the cruise, Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis told NBC New York.
The fever went away with Tylenol, he said. Three others are under observation at the hospital, which has negative-pressure isolation rooms, according to Davis.
No one aboard the ship is believed to have coronavirus, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health officials removed 23 other Chinese nationals after the ship docked, NBC reported.
Those passengers will be taken to Newark Liberty International Airport for a flight back to China, according to the report.
None of the 27 people are from Wuhan — where the virus first appeared — or had traveled there since the start of the outbreak, the outlet reported.
In a statement early Friday, Royal Caribbean said it is “participating in elevated levels of guest screening” to combat the spread of the virus.
“We are closely monitoring developments regarding coronavirus and have rigorous medical protocols in place onboard our ships,” a company spokesperson said in a statement.