A Concerning Thought on Cruise Covid Testing

[Starwind]

We do have land quarantines in our state and there are penalties for breaking it. I do agree though that there is a double standard because what I saw at WDW two weeks ago seemed every bit as risky as a cruise. I suspect the hurdle for cruising has more to do with the fact the lack of hospital access at sea if people do get seriously ill onboard.

Where we are there also self isolation (quarantine) requirements if you test positive: at least 14 days, longer if needed due to symptoms. And your household members and close contacts ALSO have to self isolate for 14 days (their clock resets if they develop symptoms themselves). You're only allowed out to medical appointments. Public health contacts you each day. If you need assistance getting things like groceries there are services that can help with that.

For cruising there can also limited hospital access for ports, whether in terms of having a hospital at all or hospital capacity. For example, Skagway, Alaska does not have a hospital; this is the info from Wikipedia:

Skagway is served by Dahl Memorial Clinic, the only primary health clinic in the area. The facility is usually staffed by 3 Advanced Nurse Practitioners and 3 Medical Assistants and is open Monday through Friday year-round with limited Saturday hours during summer.[citation needed] The clinic also operates after hours in emergency situations. The borough is also served 24/7 by local EMS. Individuals in need of dire medical attention are transported by air via helicopter or air ambulance to Bartlett Regional Hospital in Juneau (an approximately 45 minute flight). Whitehorse General Hospital in Whitehorse, Yukon is the nearest hospital to Skagway that is accessible by road (an approximately 2 hour drive).

I do think for cruising to resume they are going to have to do quite a combination of things, from testing [and that may be daily testing now that it appears there are rapid tests that could make that feasible] to itineraries that are more conducive to managing an outbreak should it happen [or as mentioned short enough that an outbreak would be somewhat self-limiting].

SW

 

[DCLMP]

Have any cruiselines come out with any plans on how or when they are going to resume sailing? I haven't been keeping up much. I logged on to cruise critic for the first time in months. The morale seems pretty low over there.

 

[randumb0]

Have any cruiselines come out with any plans on how or when they are going to resume sailing? I haven't been keeping up much. I logged on to cruise critic for the first time in months. The morale seems pretty low over there.

Not in the US

 

[DCLMP]

Not in the US

I just got back from WDW. There wasn't any info given out by WDW until there was an open date. I figure it will be the same with cruiselines. They are more than willing to take our money though and were willing to give it to them.

 

[vegs1]

We can come up with how we can or keep being the why we can't. If the why we can'ts wins, there will be no cruise company's left in business. Testing works, it's what you do about the positive tests that matters. In my state, if you test positive, you're allowed to just go home and go about your business and go out to eat at Chilli's or pick up some cat food at Walmart or put your little Covid spreading hands on the gas pump at the gas station. There's nothing done about quarantining a person who is a land based Covid spreader. Now on the UnCruise, a single person had a false positive test and they quarantined everyone on the ship and there were news stories demonizing cruising. Why such different treatment than land based spreaders? Perhaps this is why we're losing the war. If a single person catches Covid on land, nothing is done to quarantine that single person but if a single person catches covid on a ship, we must quarantine everyone and generate negative media on how the resumption of cruising will be the end of the world. Makes no sense. A person who tests positive on land should be treated no different than a person who tests positive at sea. There should be no exceptions or exemptions because the virus does not respect loopholes. I do not get the acceptance of such a giant double standard and I especially do not get it from a crowd that is supposed to be pro-cruising. If I am wrong then how do we explain 70,000+ positive U.S. cases per day when there is no cruising to point the finger at? The out of control spread is due to the fact that land based businesses are not scrutinized anywhere close to cruise based and so the consequence is out of control spread. You cannot make exceptions because the virus does not follow our rules.

Nothing might be done on land where you live. Where I live, where numbers are low, they start contact tracing immediately and you are to quarantine yourself. The health units follow up with you. Lax rules in certain areas are the issue and obviously, those who just refuse to follow smart guidelines.

 

[T & R]

Nothing might be done on land where you live. Where I live, where numbers are low, they start contact tracing immediately and you are to quarantine yourself. The health units follow up with you. Lax rules in certain areas are the issue and obviously, those who just refuse to follow smart guidelines.

That sounds great but in my state of 30 million people plus millions of undocumented people, we just do not have the manpower to do contact tracing and health unit follow ups on a scale like that. My state is also on a porous international border that has people coming and going at will, so there is no way to do follow ups. Plus even in the states that do this you do not really see it work that way. If someone tests positive and you find out within the last several days they've been to the gas station, grocery store, etc, you go back the next day after the person tests positive and you see the same checker or grocery bagger working there. Those employees did not quarantine even though they've been in contact with someone who's tested positive. Realistically, I understand why because if they did we would have no check out people or grocery baggers. On an average day approx 19.7 million people visit Walmart. So at any given time there are thousands of Covid positive people walking around inside Walmarts. The true Covid spreading businesses are land based and not cruises. Resuming cruising with rigorous testing paid for by the cruise paying passenger and not the tax payer would result in a Covid positive cruise passenger rate lower than that of land based business customers. Also, cruisers would be aware of their Covid status before during and after the cruise, while a Walmart shopper would not. With health screenings, testing, masks and Covid protocols I would feel safer on a cruise than I would at my local Walmart packed full of shoppers and staff who have no idea what their health status is.

 

[vegs1]

That sounds great but in my state of 30 million people plus millions of undocumented people, we just do not have the manpower to do contact tracing and health unit follow ups on a scale like that. My state is also on a porous international border that has people coming and going at will, so there is no way to do follow ups. Plus even in the states that do this you do not really see it work that way. If someone tests positive and you find out within the last several days they've been to the gas station, grocery store, etc, you go back the next day after the person tests positive and you see the same checker or grocery bagger working there. Those employees did not quarantine even though they've been in contact with someone who's tested positive. Realistically, I understand why because if they did we would have no check out people or grocery baggers. On an average day approx 19.7 million people visit Walmart. So at any given time there are thousands of Covid positive people walking around inside Walmarts. The true Covid spreading businesses are land based and not cruises. Resuming cruising with rigorous testing paid for by the cruise paying passenger and not the tax payer would result in a Covid positive cruise passenger rate lower than that of land based business customers. Also, cruisers would be aware of their Covid status before during and after the cruise, while a Walmart shopper would not. With health screenings, testing, masks and Covid protocols I would feel safer on a cruise than I would at my local Walmart packed full of shoppers and staff who have no idea what their health status is.

I don’t buy what you’re saying because many countries are doing well. There is no way to know exactly what is happening with cruises or how many cases there would or would not be because it has mainly stopped. If every cruise ship was still out there, then we could have a real conversation about it because we would know the real numbers.

 

[AquaDame]

Looks like we are once again arguing about contact tracing and grocery stores on a cruise forum.... I'm going to close this thread as well since it has gone off topic. If you wish to talk about methodology of tracing or virus fighting tactics and downfalls please visit the community forum.