Fredericton couple happy to be home after month-long COVID-19 quarantine

After spending close to four weeks in quarantine, first on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, docked in Yokohama, Japan and then in Trenton, Ont., David and Patricia Strang are happy to be back home in Fredericton.

Asked how they were feeling after arriving Friday afternoon, an emotional Patricia Strang said: "So relieved to be back home. Extremely relieved." 

"We feel good," David Strang said, adding, "I'm feeling wonderful." 

The couple were among the 3,700 passengers and crew stranded aboard the cruise ship starting Feb. 3 because of COVID-19. 

COVID-19 is the respiratory illness caused by a coronavirus, one of a large family of viruses that in most cases cause only mild symptoms in humans.  

The Strangs were quarantined in their room on the ship for 12 days before the Canadian government decided to bring Canadian passengers back to Canada. 

More than 700 passengers on the ship contracted the virus. Six people have died. 

The Strangs and about 129 other Canadian passengers were taken to the NAV Canada Training Institute in Cornwall, Ont., a 2½-hour drive from Trenton, for another another 14-day quarantine.  

That quarantine finished Friday and the couple were all smiles as they left the airport. 

Patricia Strang said it's something she doesn't want to experience again. 

"You know, they have to come with their masks on to leave the food. You know that we had to take the trays from the door … and then we started realizing that some of the crew had the virus, and we thought, 'Oh my gosh, what if it's being passed on to us from when we get our food and everything.'

"It was an experience I'd never want to have again."

The couple plan to spend the weekend relaxing at home.