More than 1,400 other passengers are now pleading with Florida to allow them in, but officials say the state simply does not have the resources to take on an extra burden
When Andrea Anderson and her husband boarded the MS Zaandam cruise ship in Buenos Aires more than three weeks ago, they didn’t know that their trip of a lifetime would disastrously coincide with a global pandemic that would leave them shut out and stranded at sea.
Unable to find a port willing to accept them, their ship has been stuck in a holding pattern for nearly two weeks as it desperately goes from country to country.
So far they have been rejected by Chile, Peru and Argentina, which all sealed their ports amid the coronavirus outbreak.
They are now charting a hope-filled course for the United States, namely Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
“We cannot afford to have people who are not even Floridians dumped into South Florida using up those valuable resources,” DeSantis told Fox News on Monday.
Four people have died on the ship, at least two from the coronavirus, nine others have tested positive and 179 others are experiencing flu-like symptoms.