A test taken on Monday came back positive for the coronavirus three days later — and a day before the passengers who disembarked in San Juan were confirmed to have the virus. His death was caused by pneumonia, “with acute respiratory distress,” from the coronavirus disease, according to a doctor quoted in a news report.
The hospital has quarantined members of its staff and their families, and has been closed to new patients for two weeks, the statement said. The man’s wife was quarantined.
Despite the positive tests on the Italian passengers on Friday, the cruise line began stricter protocols, such as having dinner served by employees, only this weekend, other passengers said.
The cruise line said it increased sanitary protocols late Saturday afternoon after receiving confirmation from the Puerto Rican government about the Italian couple hospitalized there.
“We confirm no guests or crew with health issues,” the company said in an email to The New York Times. It did not respond this weekend to specific requests for information about the man in the Cayman Islands.
Reporting was contributed by Mitch Smith, Mark Landler, Jonathan Weisman, Elisabetta Povoledo, Andrea Salcedo, Austin Ramzy, Tiffany May, Iliana Magra, Cliff Levy, Kristen Danis, Katrin Bennhold, Jason Gutierrez, Mariel Padilla, Robert Chiarito, Isabel Kershner, Mujib Mashal, Raphael Minder, Neil MacFarquhar, Jack Ewing, Najim Rahim, Livia Albeck-Ripka, Hannah Beech, Marc Santora, Julie Bosman, Richard Fausset, Johanna Berendt, Richard C. Paddock, Muktita Suhartono, Elian Peltier, Damien Cave, Javier Hernandez, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Mihir Zaveri, Patricia Mazzei, Frances Robles, Badra Sharma, Annie Karni, Abdi Latif Dahir, Zach Montague, Claire Moses, Nina Siegal, Melissa Eddy, Vanessa Friedman, Vanessa Swales and Monica Davey.