ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) A Tri-Cities woman quarantined in Japan for weeks due, to the coronavirus outbreak is finally home.
Jeanie Hopland was greeted by friends and family at Tri-Cities Airport late last night.
Mrs. Hopland tested positive for the virus, and spent time in a Japanese hospital after she and her husband, Arnie, were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
After two negative tests she was cleared for travel.
News Channel 11’s Pheben Kassahun shared Jeanie’s thoughts as she returned home, and spoke with relieved family members.
“It’s good to be back,” Jeanie Hopland said with a big grin on her face.
Jeanie Hopland recalls the very moment she was told she tested positive for COVID-19.
“We were on our way to go to California, to the quarantine, and we hadn’t been told. I was in this coat and I walked to the door and said, ‘Well, I’m ready to go’ and he said, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t go. You have tested positve,'” she explained. “So, I didn’t have any suitcases, but I had this bag. Now, it has more than it did then because my kids had been giving me things.”
Arnie had a choice to either go with her or leave, she explained. He could not leave her side.
She returned to the Tri-Cities without her husband, Dr. Arnold Hopland, Sunday night.
“We had a wonderful cruise. We went to Hong Kong, Iran and Vietnam, and a couple of places in Japan,” she said.
While in quarantine with her husband, Hopland said they foresaw the spread of the coronavirus on the ship.
“The quarantine wasn’t very good. At first, they hardly had gloves and open food. You know, and Arnie recognized that this isn’t going to work, but we had a nice time. As we sat there, you know you can do a lot when you have a room: you can read, you can do exercise,” she explained. “We were on our way to go to California, to the quarantine, and we hadn’t been told. I was in this coat and I walked to the door and said, ‘Well, I’m ready to go’ and he said, ‘I’m sorry, you can’t go. You have tested positve.'”
The Hoplands’ son, Jeff Hopland, is also a practicing doctor and told Pheben Kassahun the ship was mishandled.
“The ship should have been quarantined separately. The staff were still delivering food and going room to room, which is just not what a quarantine is and as a result, it spread all over the ship,” Jeff Hopland said. “It’s the Japanese Administrative of Health is where they kind of dropped the ball.”
Dr. Jeff Hopland said when his mother tested positive, he was concerned since Jeanie is considered to be in the high-risk age group.
He said, “She’s 75 so I was worried about it. I know the statistics and statistically she’s very healthy, so I thought she would do okay. You can’t help but worry when you’re have a world away, and your mom is sick with a potentially serious illness.”
Making light of the situation, Hopland’s friendly nature allowed her to befriend other people who tested positive, who were then moved to a military base in Japan.
“There was one lady from Isreal and she could not speak English,” Jeanie said. “I said, he I can call. Your husband’s in the ship and my husband’s in the ship. I said, I will call my husband, have him call him on the ship phone, we’ll put him on the speaker and you can talk to him.”
Hopland said communication was the hardest part about being quarantined. She resorted to using a phone app for translation.
“The doctors and the nurses were very sweet. Sometimes, we didn’t understand each other. I remember once, we all signed this paper, and we thought we were giving permission for them to swap. It ended up, we were signing up for shower time,” Mrs. Hopland said.
Meanwhile, Hopland said he thinks there will be more false positives since the tests are brand new.
“She never got any symptoms. The question is why, and we don’t know why she didn’t get sick. For one, the test thing isn’t all that accurate. This is a brand new virus, brand new test,” Jeff Hopland said. “The question is, whether is was a false positive. They’re obviously setting the test up so it doesn’t miss anything. So, there’s going to be a lot more false positives than false negatives. We don’t know. Either she got lucky, she’s healthy, or the test was inaccurate.”
Hopland added, though the virus is new and can be startling, he said there should not be any panic.
“I think it’s going to be too late to stop this from spreading around the world now. I think, it will spread. I think that there’s no need for panic. The important thing is routine precautions like you would for any flu season,” Jeff Hopland said. “It’s slightly more dangerous than the flu. It’s not a lot more dangerous than the flu. It’s just a new virus and we did not need another flu season.”
As for Jeanie’s husband, Dr. Arnold Hopland, he still remains quarantined outside Tokyo, for one more week.
This after he was removed from the Diamond Princess cruise ship after his wife. Dr. Arnold Hopland may be eligible to return home as soon as Saturday, March 7.
