'An introvert's dream': Here's what it's like for passengers on board the quarantined coronavirus cruise
- The Diamond Princess cruise ship is currently under quarantine after more than 170 people have been confirmed to have the new coronavirus.
- One American couple who are confined to their cabin during the 14-day quarantine has taken to YouTube as a means of keeping their friends and family updated while capturing the quirks that come with being stuck in the small room.
- Cheryl and Paul Molesky, a married couple from Syracuse, New York, have posted regular vlogs showing everything from ups and downs of quarantine room service, the skyline over the Yokohama port, and lounging in their bathrobes.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
An American couple's YouTube videos have provided a glimpse of life onboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship while passengers wait out their concerns over the coronavirus outbreak.
The ship is being held in Yokohama, Japan, where it is holding the largest number of people with the coronavirus outside of mainland China, with at least 174 cases so far.
Japanese authorities have scoured the ship with tests to identify patients and those who may be staying with them as other passengers have spent the first days of the two-week quarantine holed up in their rooms.
Two of those passengers are Cheryl and Paul Molesky, a married couple from Syracuse, New York, who have been uploading regular vlogs of their days stuck in their cabin on the ship.
Cheryl uploaded the first video to a channel in her name on February 6, writing in the title that "we should be in Kyoto!"
"We're going to be stuck here for a while, so we thought we'd document some of our journey and let you know how things are going for our family and friends," Cheryl says in the video.
In the second video - they could upload only short ones because of the ship's poor internet connection - the couple details the process of undergoing health inspections with the Japanese Health Authority, for which they left the boat before returning after 48 hours. They said 10 people were initially found to have the virus and were taken to the hospital before 10 more patients were confirmed onboard and removed.
The ship instituted the quarantine in accordance with the same guidelines cited by the US Center for Disease Control that specify the virus' incubation period ranges from two days to two weeks.
After their posts from the first few days in quarantine, the couple has captured the ups and downs of quarantine room service, the skyline over the Yokohama port, and lounging in their bathrobes.
The entirety of the couple's contact with crew happens through masks and gloves, which have been recommended to stop the spread of the virus from person to person.
As the Moleskys' video for "Day 4" says in its description: "Quarantine is an introverts[sic] dream."
By the sixth day of the quarantine, the couple's videos showing their daily routine of making the bed, doing dishes, and cleaning the bathroom with supplies from the ship's staff were reaching around 3,000 views and outlets like ABC News, the Associated Press, and Syracuse.com featured stories on the Moleskys.
A video posted on February 12 shows the couple being tested by authorities in full protective wear who said that they were swabbing passengers who were older than 75 and those staying with them.
A notice on the cruise's website says that authorities would allow some passengers "voluntary disembarkation of guests to complete their quarantine period at a shoreside facility," prioritizing older and more medically vulnerable passengers before the rest would be released on February 19.
The couple's blossoming YouTube channel is just one of the many places on social media where Diamond Princess passengers have been documenting their lives while under the ship's quarantine.
Pictures on Twitter previously reported by Business Insider's Hilary Brueck have captured everything from water deliveries, odd room service meal combinations, and dwindling alcohol options.
The ongoing quarantine comes just over a month after the outbreak was initially identified, the new coronavirus has killed at least 1,380 people and infected more than 64,000 across 26 countries.
Read more:
The coronavirus has infected more than 1,700 healthcare workers in China, killing 6 of them