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Dillsburg couple back home, happy ‘just to be able to look outside’ after lengthy coronavirus quarantine

  • Steve Marroni/PennLive
Bill Smedley and his wife were quarantined for more than a month after a coronavirus outbreak on their cruise ship in Japan. After many delays, including a second quarantine in Texas, they finally made it home to Dillsburg, Pa.

 PennLive

Bill Smedley and his wife were quarantined for more than a month after a coronavirus outbreak on their cruise ship in Japan. After many delays, including a second quarantine in Texas, they finally made it home to Dillsburg, Pa.

(Dillsburg) — Bill Smedley missed a lot of things while he was away from his home outside of Dillsburg.

He missed the dart league he’s been part of for 30 years. He missed cheeseburgers and Italian subs. He missed choosing to go wherever he wants, even if it’s just sitting on his back porch looking over the rolling acres of farmland and horse pastures of Warrington Township.

Basically, he missed his life.

“It’s a great feeling to be here, just to be able to look outside,” he said Thursday, sitting on that same back porch. “Today I washed my car and did nothing else, and just sat around and sort of recuperated.”

But it was quite an adventure to get here.

Smedley and his wife, Colette, went on a cruise for their 33rd anniversary, visiting sites in Japan, Vietnam and Hong Kong. They didn’t know when they embarked on that journey that they would find themselves in the middle of a worldwide story when someone who tested positive for the coronavirus got onto their ship, the Diamond Princess.

The day they were supposed to head home, Feb. 3, they were quarantined on the ship, docked in Japan, with 3,700 other passengers and had to spend most of their time in their 10-foot-by-20-foot cabin.

Bill and Colette Smedley, of Dillsburg, were scheduled to come home Monday after being quarantined for a month after someone on their cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus. Their flight home was canceled Monday after someone else in Texas, where they're currently quarantined, tested positive.

Provided by Bill Smedley

Bill and Colette Smedley, of Dillsburg, were scheduled to come home Monday after being quarantined for a month after someone on their cruise ship tested positive for the coronavirus. Their flight home was canceled Monday after someone else in Texas, where they’re currently quarantined, tested positive.

It was a scary feeling at times, he said. They would see ambulances at the port, hauling away into isolation those who showed a fever or tested positive.

And as more passengers tested positive on the ship, the 300 or so Americans onboard were evacuated back to the states, with one group to be quarantined for two more weeks in California and Smedley’s group to be quarantined in a hotel-style barracks at the Joint Base Antonio-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas.

PennLive talked to Smedley several times while he was on the ship and in Texas, where they spent another two weeks.

Throughout their month of quarantine, the couple did their best to keep a positive attitude. Complaining would do no good, he said.

At least in Texas, they had more room in the hotel-style barracks, and they had the freedom to walk around the fenced-in yard although they had to wear face masks. They still avoided people, though, so they would not get sick and could come home, Smedley said.

A housekeeping worker wears a mask as she cleans a room, Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at an Econo Lodge motel in Kent, Wash. King County Executive Dow Constantine said Wednesday that the county had purchased the 85-bed motel south of Seattle to house patients for recovery and isolation due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Ted S. Warren / AP Photo

A housekeeping worker wears a mask as she cleans a room, Wednesday, March 4, 2020, at an Econo Lodge motel in Kent, Wash. King County Executive Dow Constantine said Wednesday that the county had purchased the 85-bed motel south of Seattle to house patients for recovery and isolation due to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Like the rest of the passengers, they were tested twice for the coronavirus and both times the tests came back negative.

On the day they were supposed to fly home Monday, though, news broke about a Wuhan, China, evacuee who had also been quarantined in San Antonio being released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only to have a positive test come back after her release.

This prompted San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg to declare a public health emergency Monday and request all Diamond Princess evacuees be held for another test, delaying the Smedleys’ departure.

But on Tuesday, the CDC said it would strengthen its protocol for releasing people from quarantine, allowing the Smedleys to finally head home.

That one-day delay was enough, so it was a rush to the airport before officials in Texas could change their minds. They feared that as soon as they left the base, they would be detained by the police and sent back into quarantine. At the airport, they were nervous they would be spotted until they finally got on the plane.

That’s when they knew it – they were heading home.

“They did lose my luggage,” Smedley said. “Just one more kick in the teeth.”

But it was the end of the journey.

At least 100 people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship will be tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after a former passenger died from the disease this week. The ship is seen here in a photo from 2001.

Luis M. Alvarez / AP Photo

At least 100 people aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship will be tested for the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, after a former passenger died from the disease this week. The ship is seen here in a photo from 2001.

When they got home, they found a giant “Welcome home” banner on their fence with balloons and ribbons. Some prankster friends even put yellow caution tape around their house.

Inside their house, their friends stocked their refrigerator with food and put fresh flowers and gift baskets all around.

People have been nice and welcoming since they got back Tuesday, he said. When they played Bingo at the American Legion, everyone was happy to see them, he said, and he hasn’t noticed anyone avoiding them from having been so close to the coronavirus.

Now, it’s just a matter of getting back to normal life. Smedley is happy just for those small things such as seeing his friends and family in person instead of on Facebook Messenger and getting back to familiar pastimes like playing darts, going to the American Legion for Bingo or eating at his favorite Italian restaurants.

Fishing and golf season are both right around the corner.

“The freedoms that we have, when they take them away from you, it’s an interesting feeling,” he said. “You’re not in control. We were at the mercy of the government, the CDC, and at the end, the state of Texas.”

You really learn how to cherish being home, he said.

And as much as the couple loves being home, and even after all of this, the experience has not deterred Bill and Colette Smedley from traveling in their retirement. They already have a cruise booked for next winter in the Panama Canal.

“We’re just going to upgrade our cabin now,” he said.

 

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