Radio station KHTS/Santa Clarita co-owner and former Diamond Princess passenger Carl Goldman has been liberated from the bio-containment wing and moved to a quarantine dorm at Nebraska Medicine hospital, where he is recovering from a diagnosed case of coronavirus COVID-19.

“No more monitors, no more waking up every four hours, no more probing and no more unlimited supply of Gatorade,” Goldman said Thursday in Part 15 of his ongoing chronicle. “I’ll miss my around-the-clock medical team at Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. They have been beyond awesome.”

Goldman said he’s been fever-free for more than a week.

“Unlike a cold, I had no drippy nose, no sneezing,” he said. “My cough remains, lingering as a friendly reminder I am not yet healed. I have never been in any pain.”

Goldman is now in the same isolation ward where his wife and fellow Diamond Princess passenger Jeri Seratti-Goldman is quarantined, though she has not tested positive for the virus. If she remains healthy, she could be allowed to return home to Santa Clarita as early as March 3. The Goldmans are among the 15 Americans still quarantined at Nebraska Medicine.

“My room is down the hall, but we might as well be in different zip codes,” he said. “We continue to FaceTime multiple times a day. Today she broke a tooth. She’s in pain and not a happy camper. I suggested she ask for a tootsie roll so she could do some self-dentistry. She didn’t find any humor in my helpful suggestion, and besides, she just gave up candy for Lent.”

Clinical Study at Nebraska Medicine
Goldman volunteered to be the subject of a clinical study conducted by health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health as the agencies search for a coronavirus cure.

“There are two clinical trials going on here in Omaha,” he said. “One is taking a drug called Remdesivir. I am too healthy to qualify for that drug. My clinical trial won’t help me. It will help others.

“I spoke at length on the phone with a CDC doctor, documenting my health history and going into detail on everything I might have been exposed to since departing Santa Clarita on January 17,” Goldman said. “We are tested in various areas multiple amounts of times to assure we are free of the virus. Tomorrow I will receive more blood tests and swabs stuck up various appendages (see Wednesday’s report).”

Nebraska Medicine, Omaha, Nebraska.

The clinical trial also involves the other 14 patients in quarantine at Nebraska Medicine.

“At 3 p.m., we participated in our second town hall meeting with CDC officials,” Goldman said. “All 15 patients quarantined in our Omaha medical facilities are on the phone. Our full CDC team, including our head doctor, nurse and psychologist, fills us in on the latest status of the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. They answer our questions and provide comfort. They promise to continue our one-hour meeting every day at 3 p.m. I am very careful not to crack any jokes, knowing my wife is also on the line. If I made any sarcastic remark, I would experience the wrath of Jeri for many hours later.”

On Wednesday, he also reported that his Diamond Princess traveling companion Mark Jorgensen, a Utah resident now quarantined at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, has tested positive for the virus.

“Huge bummer,” Goldman said. “Mark was on the tail end of his 14-day quarantine. … Protocol requires a negative test before he was released. He tested positive, although he showed no signs of the virus.”

Health officials moved Jorgensen to a hospital outside Sacramento.

“A few hours after Mark arrived at the hospital, a lab technician entered his room to draw blood, NOT wearing a hazmat suit — HELLO????” Goldman said. “The nurse was quickly ushered out of Mark’s room. That mistake would never occur in my biocontainment wing at Nebraska Medicine. They have their act together here in Omaha.”

Jorgensen’s wife Jerri, the fourth of the “Four Amigos” traveling together on the Diamond Princess cruise, tested positive before all American passengers were removed from the ship and flown to isolation centers in the United States on February 16-17. She continues her recovery in a medical center in Fukushima, Japan.

Princess Cruises Update
All passengers aboard the Diamond Princess, still docked in Yokohama, Japan, have disembarked, and ship staff members are preparing for quarantine offshore, Valencia-based Princess Cruises confirmed Thursday in a news release, which follows:

“Specialists from the Princess Care Team and Family Assistance programs remain available to both passengers and staff.

“Currently, there are fewer than 500 employees on board, with some awaiting government charter flights. For those who will not depart by government charter flights, we have finalized plans with the Japan Ministry of Health for a quarantine shoreside facility in Japan.

“Princess Cruises has hired Aspen Medical, an award-winning and WHO-certified company with extensive global experience in delivering public health services, to provide team members with health and wellbeing care during quarantine at a land-based center in Japan.

“The Australia-based company will deploy as many as 60 professionals including clinically certified doctors, nurses and environmental health officers along with operations personnel.

“Aspen Medical will provide services at the facility including daily health checks, laundry services, meal service, housekeeping service and assistance with recreational activities.

“This secondary quarantine is required by the Japan Ministry of Health, out of an abundance of caution, to ensure the health and well-being of each team member.

“Aspen Medical will be operating under the direction of the Japan Ministry of Health, which is ultimately responsible for the quarantine.”

Coronavirus COVID-19 Around the World
Worldwide, as of 8:23 a.m. Friday, the total number of confirmed coronavirus COVID-19 cases was 83,867, with 2,867 confirmed deaths and 36,686 people recovered from the virus, according to the interactive map from the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

For the latest COVID-19-coronavirus updates and information, see the World Health Organization‘s dedicated page, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention‘s website, and Princess Cruises’ update page.