Life After Quarantine: Granite Bay Couple Returns Home From Texas
GRANITE BAY (CBS13) — A Placer County couple is finally back home after their 15-day cruise took a major detour due to the coronavirus.
They've been home for about a week now and have tested negative for the virus, but they admit life after quarantine has been a challenge.
"We were going through a lot of work you might say to get our head back on straight and think about what life's about again," Otis Menasco said.
After a seven-week adventure, Otis and his wife Carol are playing catch up with mail piled up, late bills to call about, and doctor visits to reschedule. "It's been a real nightmare," he said.
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It's the simple things, Otis says he's looking forward to the most.
"I plan on spending some time in the backyard where it's so beautiful and I haven't been in for a long, long time," he said.
For a long, long time, they were stuck on a Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan with passengers infected with the coronavirus. They were then taken to Texas where they were kept under quarantine at Lackland Air Force Base.
"Of course the first thing we wanted to do was take a shower, but there was only one towel and no soap," Otis said.
As more and more days passed, so did the tests.
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"They gave us a full swab test and we were negative," he said. "We're just happy and thank the man upstairs for not having us catch this."
While the couple is still diligent about checking their temperature daily, they've now stocked up on food and other essentials and have no plans to leave the comforts of home anytime soon.
"We have decided we're not going to any area. No concerts, no basketball games, no even high school games. We're just going to simply kind of hideout in our home," Otis said.
The Menasco's said they had a cruise scheduled for June and July, but those trips have now been canceled. They are planning to travel to Mexico to ring in 2021.
