Rumors swirled among 4,000 people about why they weren’t moving but no one imagined the reason was connected to the world’s most terrifying virus.
A Colorado man aboard the Carnival Magic, quarantined out of Ebola fears, says he first got the notion that something was wrong when he looked over the edge of the ship in his hot tub Thursday night and spotted a security boat circling it.
Eric Lupher, a reporter for Denver ABC affiliate KMGH, says the 12-story ship sat off of the coast of Belize all night long instead of traveling to its intended destination of Cozumel.
Friday morning at breakfast, travelers were buzzing in the elevators about why the ship was still moored instead of out at sea. Rumors were circling: some thought people had been shot during an island excursion; others were wondering if food onboard had gone bad. No one was prepared to hear what the ships captain told them over the PA system.
“The captain said there was a person on board who worked in a lab at Texas Health Presbyterian,” Lupher said. “He never said the word ‘Ebola,’ but we all knew that’s what it was.”