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In February 2020, Carlton PR & Marketing was retained to handle crisis communications on behalf of Gay and Phil Courter. The Courters were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in an attempt to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus (official name COVID-19). The couple spent nine days in their cabin aboard the Diamond Princess in the port of Yokohama, Japan before being airlifted to Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio, Texas for a second quarantine. As hundreds of cases were confirmed onboard (making the cruise ship its own hot spot), they were leading voices in suggesting that the Diamond Princess was not an effective quarantine facility and that the US government needed to take a more active role in the situation. Gay, a NYT best-selling author, and Phil, a documentary filmmaker, chronicled their experience throughout both quarantines and the evacuation, sharing photos and recordings, and spending hours on Skype talking with reporters. Global coverage surrounding the situation was massive and included every major network, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, BBC, NPR, CTV and many more. The following are just a few highlights of the coverage regarding this important global story.

 

‘We’re in a Petri Dish’: How Coronavirus Ravaged a Cruise Ship

YOKOHAMA, Japan — The captain came over the intercom early in the evening: A passenger who had left the ship nine days earlier had tested positive for the new coronavirus sweeping through China.

While the guests on board were unnerved, it was the final night of their two-week luxury cruise aboard the Diamond Princess. The revelry continued as the ship headed toward the port in Yokohama, Japan’s second-largest city.

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I Prepared for Everything, but Not Coronavirus on a Cruise Ship

Last year, I published a thriller set on a cruise. A few weeks ago, I found myself quarantined on the Diamond Princess.

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Fear and Boredom Aboard the Quarantined Coronavirus Cruise Ship

 TOKYO—The pools, hot tubs and bars of the Diamond Princess emptied out on Feb. 5, when authorities quarantined the luxury cruise ship at a Yokohama dock. Instead of overflowing buffets, staff in surgical masks deliver boxed meals and snacks, about 11,000 a day.

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LIVE Interview CNN OutFront

After being quarantined on the Diamond Princess and again at Lackland Airforce Base, Gay Courter and husband Phil are home in Crystal River, FL.

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‘This whole thing has failed’—Cruise ship passengers call for an end to quarantine

Gay and Phil Courter, two passengers on a quarantined cruise ship due to the coronavirus, join “Squawk Box” to discuss why they say passengers should be allowed to leave the ship and enter quarantine at accepting hospitals.

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‘Like I’m in a Bad Movie.’ Concerns Mount on Quarantined Ship as More Passengers Test Positive for Coronavirus.

Gay Courter, 75, has a perfect view of the Yokohama docks from the balcony of her cabin on the virus-stricken Diamond Princess.

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More Americans aboard cruise ship test positive for coronavirus

Eleven more Americans aboard a quarantined cruise ship in Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus. The worldwide death toll now eclipses that of the SARS outbreak. NBC’s Molly Hunter reports for TODAY from Hong Kong.

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What Life Is Like For 3,700 Cruise Ship Passengers Stuck In Coronavirus Quarantine

Dozens of passengers on a cruise ship have tested positive for coronavirus. NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro talks with Gay and Philip Courter, among the 3,700 quarantined on a ship in Yokohama, Japan.

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Our cruise ship was quarantined for coronavirus. It’s been 9 days of surrealism.

Nine blurry days have passed since the cruise we boarded last month was quarantined because of the coronavirus. Little did we know when we embarked on our vacation that we would sail into “Groundhog Day”-like surrealism off the coast of Yokohama, Japan.

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What life is like under novel coronavirus quarantine

As novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, continues to spread around the globe, Americans are wrestling with an uncomfortable side effect of widespread infectious disease: the possibility of quarantine. Click to read more