Thousands may have been exposed to coronavirus on Princess cruise ship; 62 passengers confined

[mmmears]

More breaking news...

Royal Princess is now being held off at LA.

Apparently, Princess transferred a crew member from the Grand Princess over to this ship.

https://www.cruisehive.com/passenge...-cruise-is-cancelled-out-of-los-angeles/38211

I see you saw the news while I was typing my response.

 

[cwis]

The Royal too? I read a similar thing about the Regal Princess headed to San Diego!

Looks like both ships are affected, the voyage number looks different on these letters:

 

[Intr3pid]

From what I heard online (news channel) it could be an issue with the crew. There are crew members who switched ships (were on the Grand, now on the Regal) and I believe they are concerned that they could spread it. I haven't sailed on Princess, but have extended family who have and they feel the ships are kept clean, but I have no stake in this one way or the other.

I think - in a more general sense - all ships are kept clean. The problem is that Princess (and Carnival) seem to be intent with doing just enough to meet CDC/WHO guidelines. These guidelines, however, aren't adequate/tailored for cruise ships. Cruiselines need to take leadership on this, as they know their systems and environment better than any outsider ever will.

VP Pence is hinting at deeper measures coming out over the next couple of days:
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/07/coronavirus-cruise-lines-123455

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My understanding is one of the major lessons learned from the Diamond Dream is to not quarantine everyone ON the ship, as that makes the situation worse [more people infected]. So some/many things can be done to help those on board, including doing a proper quarantine off the ship -- it helps protect the community and it helps protect those on board who are not yet infected.

Yes and I don't disagree with you but for me I think if you're on a ship there's just no hope there as in trying to keep people from getting infected on a ship no longer is of the most importance like we originally thought it would be.

The people on The World Dream, the ship that let people go but had people who got the virus from that voyage when it was able to sail onto the next voyage, may have unknowingly contributed to the spread throughout the communities IMO as there was no quarantine afterwards for those passengers who able to disembark and we didn't know as much about the virus and how it spreads (especially with those who are asymptomatic) as we do now.

We only know about the Diamond Princess in terms of the spread as those people were stuck on the ship and the numbers able to be accurately counted. The 'quarantine' on the Diamond Princess def. contributed to the spread, on the ship, and we know that was not the intention at all as they were trying to the best of their ability to contain it. However, letting everyone disembark and go about their merry days when someone had tested positive or shows symptoms can absolutely lead to the spread in the communities with no ability to mitigate it at the onset.

Once you let people disembark and you aren't holding them in a quarantine you've lost the ability to contain. But it's not necessarily feasible to quarantine everyone on a ship in specific places on land using up resources and the like either vs probably seen as easier to just keep the ship out. I think we'll see more case by case situations. If you've got quarantine sites already full, you've got medical professionals and other resources already being used up it become less important to deal with a ship that can be controlled than it does for the communities at large. It's the downside right now for the travel and cruise industry. Kinda sucks all around. There's a lot of cruises going around but now there's a lot of cases going on in the U.S. that need resources like test kits, workers from the Health Department, medical professionals, etc.

I don't know what the true best answer is but I do understand why they are holding the ships off trying to do pseudo quarantines vs just letting everyone disembark. Cruise ships present more of a problem than an airplane. If a ship is at sea and people start to show symptoms there are far less options available especially if they are out in the middle of the sea and by the time they make it to a port the exposure risks to others on board is significant.

In the end some of it will be a crap shoot for those on board. There are multiple examples from the Diamond princess where two or more people shared a stateroom and one of them tested positive (usually asymptomatic) but the other(s) did not. It will make some interesting studies down the road to try to figure out one person got it and another did not.

I think it's just like anything else really. The flu is the only thing in the 12 years my husband and I have been together that we gave to each other but also neither one of us had had the flu for probably 20+ years. Otherwise we really don't pass things to each other. I have allergies so often when I'm sick I get more sinus related symptoms. My husband does not have allergies and his colds and the like present more like normal. I tend to have lingering coughs my husband doesn't. My sister-in-law lived with her boyfriend who had influenza B but she did not get it.

I would like to see if some pieces of the puzzle can be fit together in there some sort of reasoning in some cases where factors led to some people getting it and passing it to those in close contact. I'm with you on it will be interesting over time for sure.

 

[isabellea]

Canada will evacuate its 235 citizens when they disembark from the Grand Princess cruise ship. https://www.canada.ca/en/global-aff...ians-on-board-grand-princess-cruise-ship.html

 

[Intr3pid]

Now, it's time for the Caribbean Princess to join the club...

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/car...-off-florida-coast-due-to-coronavirus-testing

 

[xavier2001]

Now, it's time for the Caribbean Princess to join the club...

https://www.wptv.com/news/state/car...-off-florida-coast-due-to-coronavirus-testing

I think this one is ridiculous, the 2 suspected crew members are showing no signs of illness. They are going overboard with this quarantining (yes pun intended).