Olympia woman who was stuck on cruise ship in Japan tests positive for coronavirus



The thousands of passengers aboard the now infamous Diamond Princess cruise ship were finally able to leave this week, but 600 of those passengers tested positive for novel coronavirus.

Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department evacuated more than 300 American passengers -- including Marianne Obenchain from Olympia -- to multiple quarantine sites.

"I did get a little bit teary and upset, because that is not what you want to hear," she told Q13 News in a Facetime interview from a California hospital.

She said officials swabbed her throat before she left the cruise ship, then swabbed her throat again during quarantine in the U.S.

"And then about two maybe three hours after that I got another knock on my door and it was two American health officials saying, 'I'm sorry but your test has come back positive for coronavirus,'" Marianne recalled.

She said she has no symptoms and remains in good spirits.

"I will be tested every day ... as long as I test positive the amount of time is up in the air," she said.

Once her test is negative, she'll go back to quarantine at Travis Air Force Base.

Fifteen people have tested positive for the virus in the U.S., with another 52 possible cases still pending as of Wednesday evening, according to the CDC's website.

In Washington state, there's still only one confirmed patient with a second person's test results pending.