Quarantined cruise passengers arrive from France in Atlanta

ATLANTA (AP) — A jet carrying 359 people including hundreds of American and Canadian cruise ship passengers home from France landed at Atlanta's international airport on Friday as emergency responders prepared to screen them for the coronavirus, federal officials said.

Three people on the flight have tested positive for COVID-19 but have no symptoms, while 13 others are sick but haven't been tested, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said Friday.

Some passengers complained that there were no medical personnel provided by the cruise company or the U.S. government and that they were not given much food in 24 hours. The company Costa Cruises did not respond to a request for comment.

Jenny Harrell, 51, a wedding photographer from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who was on the flight, described a chaotic scene that included a male passenger with a chronic lung disease who had to be hooked to a ventilator machine because he was in distress, and others fainting seemingly due to low blood sugar. Many flying were coughing and had breathing problems, Harrell said.

“It was a mass triage with absolutely no direction and the crew going ‘what should we do now?’” she said.

Additionally, Harrell and others said the passengers only received orange juice and crackers in more than 24 hours — the time it took to disembark in France, fly to Atlanta, and be cleared by officials. Harrell said she called 911 when the plane landed and CDC officials wanted to enter the plane because she demanded the passengers were given food first. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did not respond to requests for comment.

Passengers were taken to a hangar for screening to measure their temperatures, Harrell said, but only certain passengers were tested. And some, such as Harrell, were cleared to fly back home to Virginia,...