Plane carrying cruise ship passengers lands at Dobbins Air Reserve Base
MARIETTA, Ga. - A plane filled with passengers stranded on the Grand Princess cruise ship landed overnight at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Cobb County.
The 737 touched down at the Cobb County base just before 1 a.m. Wednesday. A second plane arriving later will bring more passengers.
In total, more than 200 people from the ship are expected to be quarantined at Dobbins.
Health officials: 31 cases of coronavirus in Georgia
Plane touches down at Dobbins
All of the people brought to Dobbins were tested before being allowed to fly to Georgia, but the passengers will be quarantined on base for 14 days to make sure they aren't infected with the COVID-19 coronavirus. Anyone who gets sick during the quarantine will be taken to a local hospital for treatment.
21 people on the Grand Princess tested positive
The passengers, who are all from the east coast, will be housed in unused base lodging located just south of the main gate. Officials said Dobbins has the training and capacity to handle the job.
Thirty-four Georgia residents onboard the ship will be allowed to return to their homes, where they'll be monitored by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
Twenty-one people on board the Grand Princess have tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing thousands of passengers to stay in their cabins for days while officials decided if the ship should be allowed to dock in California. More than 1,000 crewmembers will remain onboard.
Dobbins is one of four bases housing the massive quarantine. Nearly a thousand of the ship's passengers will end up at California's Travis Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. Others will end up at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland in Texas.