Sick Grand Princess passenger evacuated from ship

Sick passenger being moved from Grand Princess ship

There were new developments Saturday, involving the cruise ship, that was ordered to stay offshore due to the coronavirus.

The website, vesselfinder, tracks the movements of boats and ships. The site indicated that the Coast Guard Patrol Boat, USCGC Tern, sailed up to the Grand Princess, early Saturday morning.

KTVU reached out to the Coast Guard for an explanation, but no reasons were given for the rendezvous, as the agency is referring all calls about the ship to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Tracking the Grand Princess

The patrol boat later returned home, while the Grand Princess headed farther out to sea.

Operators of the Grand Princess, will hold a conference all with the news media Saturday afternoon, to provide an update on the ship, and the conditions of everyone onboard.

Meanwhile, a passenger told KCRA-TV that the captain announced a sick passenger will be transported to a hospital some time on Saturday.

A Coast Guard chopper flew to the ship Friday night, but the captain later told everyone it was dropping off supplies, and not evacuating the sick passenger, who had been ill when the ship was in Hawaii.

At a news briefing Friday, Vice President Mike Pence said that officials were working on plans to allow the Grand Princess to dock this weekend at a non-commercial port, where all 3,500+ people onboard would be tested for the virus.

Pence announced that tests were administered to 46 people on Thursday, with 21 of them testing positive -- 19 crew members and 2 passengers.