Coronavirus: South San Francisco husband among several to contract COVID-19 while stuck on Coral Princess cruise ship

Sunday, April 5, 2020

South SF man contracts COVID-19 while stuck vacationing on cruise ship

The Maa family left for a dream vacation in South America on March 5th, but never finished their cruise as planned. Instead, they've been sailing through the Atlantic for weeks, and now the husband has tested positive.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- More than 1,000 passengers aboard the Coral Princess finally docked in Port Miami Saturday morning, with healthy passengers allowed to return home for self-isolation.

Wilson Maa, 71, of South San Francisco, is not one of them.

Maa traveled along with his wife, and is one of at least a dozen passengers and crew members to have contracted the novel coronavirus while the Princess-owned cruise ship traveled through South America after departing March 5th.

"My biggest concern is that my mom is in the cabin with him and she will get infected as well," said daughter Julie Maa.

The mayor of Miami allowed the ship to dock Saturday morning, after officials confirmed at least one man from South Carolina had died.

Passengers had expected to finish their vacation aboard the Coral Princess ship on March 19 in Buenos Aires.

According to officials, at least three critically-ill passengers were first to disembark.

Coronavirus-stricken cruise ships have become all-too-familiar scenes. Most notably the Grand Princess cruise ship, which had hundreds of crew members expected to end their 14-day quarantine Saturday. It comes shortly after one crew member onboard died of COVID-19.

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