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Good news on the coronavirus front: East TN woman cleared to leave Tokyo hospital

Jeanie Hopland tested positive for the virus but is in good health. Her husband, Dr. Arnold Hopland, has tested negative for exposure but remains stuck in Japan.

Update (3/1):

Dr. Arnold Hopland said his wife Jeanie will return home Sunday night to the Tri-Cities and she will not be quarantined further. 

He also said he will return home in one week but there are potential delays from travel restrictions. 

Original Story (2/28): 

The East Tennessee woman who previously has tested positive for the coronavirus is being released from a Japan hospital with a bill of good health.

Her husband, however, remains stuck in Japan, to his frustration.

Jeanie Hopland has been kept at a Tokyo hospital after testing positive for the highly contagious virus. But she's had two consecutive negative tests in recent days, which should clear the way for her to come home, according to her husband, Dr. Arnold Hopland.

The Hoplands live in Elizabethton and were cruising in Japan when the outbreak took hold in Asia earlier this month.

"She is awaiting embassy removal from the travel restriction and will then be boarding the first aircraft leaving for home from Japan," Arnold Hopland said in an email.

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He must stay for the time being, however.

"Since I have tested negative at every test, the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has decided that I cannot be cleared from travel restrictions until 14 days have passed since exiting the ship," he said. "That leaves me another week on the travel restriction list."

Arnold Hopland has been staying in dorm room at a college outside Tokyo since leaving the cruise ship. He has shown no signs at all of exposure to the virus.

The Hoplands, like hundreds of others, were enjoying a cruise when doctors found first one and then many cases of exposure to the virus aboard the Diamond Princess.

Many travelers were evacuated and taken either to hospitals or put under quarantine as a precaution, Arnold Hopland among them.

He said he is being provided food outside his door but has no human contact. He also has few clothes.

He's anxious to come home, as is his wife. She'll be flying straight into the Tri-Cities Airport as soon as she can, he said.

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