Cruise ship worker flees coronavirus quarantine in Cambodia to return to Oregon

Quarantined in a hotel in Cambodia awaiting coronavirus test results, comedian Frank King says he felt he had to get home for upcoming engagements, KPTV reported.

King had been performing shows aboard a Holland-America Westerdam cruise ship on a two-week Asian trip when a passenger came down with COVID-19, KOMO reported.

Multiple ports refused to allow the ship to dock before Cambodia relented and housed some passengers in hotels to be tested for the virus, according to the station.

“It wasn’t like an armed camp, but they were watching you,” King said, KING-TV reported. So the comedian, eager to get home, simply walked out and refused entreaties to return.

He booked a flight from Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand, then to Dubai before landing in Seattle on his way back to Eugene, Oregon, according to the station. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials cleared him to enter the United States since he had no symptoms and had not been in mainland China.

On Wednesday, the other passengers from the ship were cleared to leave Cambodia, and Holland-America Westerdam fired King for breaking quarantine, KPTV reported.

“You know it’s not my fault, I was cleared by the CDC twice. It’s not like I committed some horrible turpitude, I just dodged a bullet,” King said, KOMO reported.

Because of all the publicity, King has canceled the first of three upcoming shows, for which he’d returned early, KPTV reported.

COVID-19, caused by a coronavirus related to SARS and MERS viruses, first appeared in Wuhan, China. It’s caused by a virus named 2019-nCoV, or 2019 novel coronavirus.

The death toll from the outbreak passed 2,000 people Wednesday, CNN reported, with more than 74,000 reported cases in 28 nations.

This story was originally published February 19, 2020 at 7:27 AM with the headline "Cruise ship worker flees coronavirus quarantine in Cambodia to return to Oregon."