José Andrés Provides Meals to California Cruise Ship with Coronavirus Cases

Chef and Bethesda resident José Andrés brought his non-profit World Central Kitchen (WCK) to California to feed people quarantined on the Grand Princess cruise ship after the COVID-19 coronavirus was confirmed onboard. Meals are prepared in San Francisco and transported to the ship in Oakland.

Team getting lunch & dinner loaded onto the #GrandPrincess for guests and crew! More leaving today for quarantine….@WCKitchen will be here as long as fresh meals are needed! #ChefsForCalifornia pic.twitter.com/tsgyQk0Nch

— Chef José Andrés 🕊️🥘🍳 (@chefjoseandres) March 10, 2020

There were 21 confirmed cases of the coronavirus aboard the ship: two guests and 19 crew members, according to a statement from Princess Cruises. The ship docked at a port in Oakland on Monday and began disembarking passengers in order of priority “as defined, directed and managed by both state and local authorities.” It will be a multiple day process.

California residents aboard the ship will go to federal facilities within the state for testing and quarantine. Non-Californians will go to federal facilities in other states, and crew members will stay on the ship, also for testing and quarantine. 

WCK feeds people in areas suffering from natural or man-made crises. It provided meals to Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria and to Washington, D.C. federal employees during the government shutdown, according to WCK’s website. 

The non-profit also fed guests quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan after more than 600 passengers were diagnosed with the coronavirus. Both the Grand Princess and the Diamond Princess are owned by Princess Cruises.

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Jose Andrés Provides Meals to Cruise Guests Quarantined by Coronavirus

About Maryam Shahzad

Maryam is a reporter with Montgomery Community Media. She graduated from the University of Maryland in 2019 with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism. Previously, she was an intern with MCM. She can be reached at mshahzad@mymcmedia.org or on Twitter @maryam_mcm.

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