Welcome home! Atlanta couple who tested positive for coronavirus on cruise returns home

ATLANTA — An Atlanta couple who tested positive for COVID-19 on a cruise ship in Japan are finally back home after weeks in quarantine.

Clyde and Renee Smith were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship with their adult grandchildren when they came down with the virus last month. They were hospitalized in Tokyo until they recovered.

Channel 2′s Audrey Washington was in Decatur, where a large "welcome home" banner greeted the couple. The Smiths were on a cruise to Japan in January when another passenger suddenly tested positive for the coronavirus. Then, the Smiths were tested.

"On the seventh, they told us we had actually tested positive," Clyde Smith said.

Out of more than 2,600 passengers and 45 crew members, at least 20 people tested positive for the deadly illness. The Smiths were among 20 people evacuated from the ship and taken to a Tokyo hospital.

“They knocked on the door and said, 'You have only 30 minutes to get to the hospital and take a small bag,'" Renee Smith said.

The couple said they never had any symptoms but were quarantined for weeks until they ultimately tested negative.

"All of our vital signs were fine throughout," Clyde Smith said.

The couple told Washington they have no idea how they got the virus and neither does anyone else.

This week, they were given clearance to return to the U.S., bringing with them memories of a once-in-a-lifetime trip they won't soon forget.

They now have advice for people worried about the virus.

"Normal precautions are warranted, but panic is not," Clyde Smith said.

Four people from Cobb County are currently stuck on a cruise ship off of the coast of California. Twenty-one people on that boat are infected.

Yesterday, we spoke to friends of the four passengers who all go to the same Marietta church. Eloise Cunningham was supposed to go on the trip too but did not. She's worried about her friends, who've been on the Grand Princess since Feb. 19.

"Probably even after they get off the boat, they're going to ask them to self-quarantine or something," Cunningham said.

The ship will likely dock at a noncommercial port in the coming days so that everyone on board can be screened.

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