PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS

[elliair]

21 minutes ago, ilikeanswers said:

 

There was an interview with two Chinese virologists they had found the orginal Novel Corona virus in caves around Wuhan five years ago and already linked it to the Horeshoe Bat. The question is whether it jumped straight from bat to human or did go through an intermediatry animal like the Pangolin.

I read in another article by epidemiologists that they believe the corona came from pigs.  We just don't know, there's Level 4 biolabs in many places and who knows what they've been mixing together.  Did this virus get released from one of those Level 4 labs?  Is the sequencing done on this virus?  So many variables.  WHO is on their way to China finally with the permission of the Chinese government.  What took them so long to allow WHO to come?  The CDC has been there for at least a couple of weeks now.  Too little too late IMHO.  I'm waiting for the final word as to how, what, when, and where.

Edited February 10, 2020 by elliair

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, silkismom said:

Looking at the little video of people on deck, I couldn't hear the words but it was very obvious that they are NOT staying 3 ft apart from others OR wearing gloves.

After initially asking people to wear gloves, apparently that was changed to "wash your hands thoroughly" after going on deck.

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, Outerdog said:

 

Please stop perpetuating this myth and GET EDUCATED on how the ventilation system works on ships.

 

One of the main reason that the guests are quarantined in their cabins most of the day, is that the AC in cabins is not shared or recirculated.  There are two AC systems on the ship.  One takes outside air, cools it, and supplies it to the cabins, in a one way flow.  This fresh air supplied to the cabins is almost balanced by the bathroom exhaust which takes the air to the outside, in a one way flow.  The fresh air supply is slightly greater than the exhaust to keep the cabin at a slight positive pressure relative to the outside, and to the passageway outside the cabin.  The AC controlled by the cabin thermostat is air within the cabin, that is recirculated within the cabin, passing over the individual cabin's cooler.

 

 

Agreed.

[Aus Traveller]

9 hours ago, elliair said:

Not everyone gets a fever.  You can be a carrier and not show any symptoms at all for up to 14 days.  This is why it's spreading so fast.  People are sick but showing no symptoms.

 

For confirmed 2019-nCoV infections, reported illnesses have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying. Symptoms can include:

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath

CDC believes at this time that symptoms of 2019-nCoV may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 after exposure. This is based on what has been seen previously as the incubation period of MERS viruses.

The latest situation summary updates are available on CDC’s web page 2019 Novel Coronavirus, Wuhan, China.

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/about/symptoms.html

 

The medical authorities in Japan will need to run tests on all passengers and crew on Diamond Princess before they are released and able to potentially spread the virus. We have to hope that most of the pax and crew are virus-free.

[Pushka]

14 minutes ago, firerunner said:

 

This is a discussion husband and I have been having. 

 

Meds - my needles cost 1100.00  PER INJECTION (about $17,000 per month) , which I inject  every other day. Since the cost is so high insurance will only give me 2 weeks at a time. Which we always bring with us.  Something like this quarantine,  has us a little worried. Our next cruise isnt for  12 weeks  hopefully this scare is over with.  We also carry cancel for any reason and if  this virus is still running rampant then we will probably cancel.

 

 

I completely understand. That must be very difficult to manage. 

[bluesea321]

38 minutes ago, Deborahw58 said:

We are due to fly to Singapore on the 20th February, two nights in Singapore then join the sapphire to travel to Thailand and Vietnam. Then go to Bali for five nights. I am not so much worried about catching the corona virus as we will practice good hygiene as we always do. I'm more worried about arriving in Singapore and finding that the ship is in quarantine and we cannot board. This is a trip of a lifetime for us, not least because I have a medical condition that will curtail my lifespan. I dread the thought that we will fly for 14 hours, board the ship and not be able to disembark at the countries we are so looking forward to seeing. Although princess will allow us to cancel the cruise and re-book another we have booked through a travel agent and the flights and hotels either side of the cruise were booked separately so we would lose them. I was talking to my daughters friend who's brother lives in ho chi minh City, he said all the shops and schools are closed and everyone is staying at home. Are many of the excursions likely to be cancelled or will we just wander round empty towns or villages? 

 

I am so sorry to hear this. My suggestion would be to try to read as much as you can from local newspapers in the destinations you are considering. I did a search on Bali and this popped up. Many chinese stranded there and some don't want to return (I don't blame them).

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-08/china-offers-citizens-return-flight-bali-to-wuhan-coronavirus/11945554

[elliair]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

The medical authorities in Japan will need to run tests on all passengers and crew on Diamond Princess before they are released and able to potentially spread the virus. We have to hope that most of the pax and crew are virus-free.

I'm not sure how this happened, but my sister has friends on the Diamond Princess.  She emailed me today and said that they were home now (in Texas), and getting ready for another travel vacation.  How did that happen?  I thought they weren't releasing anyone on the Diamond.  I'm quite confused now.

Edited February 10, 2020 by elliair

[milolii]

11 minutes ago, elliair said:

I'm not sure how this happened, but my sister has friends on the Diamond Princess.  She emailed me today and said that they were home now (in Texas), and getting ready for another travel vacation.  How did that happen?  I thought they weren't releasing anyone on the Diamond.  I'm quite confused now.

 

Perhaps from an  earlier sailing?  In January? 

[Aus Traveller]

12 minutes ago, elliair said:

I'm not sure how this happened, but my sister has friends on the Diamond Princess.  She emailed me today and said that they were home now (in Texas), and getting ready for another travel vacation.  How did that happen?  I thought they weren't releasing anyone on the Diamond.  I'm quite confused now.

Maybe they were on the previous cruise on the Diamond and disembarked on 20th January, or even in Hong Kong on 25th.

[npcl]

35 minutes ago, elliair said:

I read in another article by epidemiologists that they believe the corona came from pigs.  We just don't know, there's Level 4 biolabs in many places and who knows what they've been mixing together.  Did this virus get released from one of those Level 4 labs?  Is the sequencing done on this virus?  So many variables.  WHO is on their way to China finally with the permission of the Chinese government.  What took them so long to allow WHO to come?  The CDC has been there for at least a couple of weeks now.  Too little too late IMHO.  I'm waiting for the final word as to how, what, when, and where.

The sequencing was done a couple of weeks back, a couple of companies have announced that they have designed vaccine candidates from the genome.

 

 

 

[elliair]

9 minutes ago, Aus Traveller said:

Maybe they were on the previous cruise on the Diamond and disembarked on 20th January, or even in Hong Kong on 25th.

No, that wasn't the case.  My sister knowing that we cruise a lot emailed me and told me about the quarantine on the ship and that their friends were onboard.  This was before it hit the news.  She emailed me asking for information on the ship, etc.  The Diamond Princess was our first ever Princess cruise.

[bluesea321]

4 minutes ago, npcl said:

The sequencing was done a couple of weeks back, a couple of companies have announced that they have designed vaccine candidates from the genome.

 

A bit of hope:

https://www.axios.com/vaccine-coronavirus-human-trials-1e52aefa-094e-4724-b794-14e4f76369dd.html

[elliair]

5 minutes ago, npcl said:

The sequencing was done a couple of weeks back, a couple of companies have announced that they have designed vaccine candidates from the genome.

 

 

 

Did they find out where it came from?  There's a lot of speculation going on. 

[riffatsea]

I just think that people are getting wild in their fears that are not based on the reality of the situation. Just because there is an outbreak in Japan on a Princess ship there , does not mean there is an outbreak in LA on a ship going to Hawaii.

We are due to go on a cruise to Mexico next month and I have no fears about going there.

We are due to go to Hawaii at the end of this year and unless there is an outbreak of the virus in Hawaii(which has not occurred yet) then we will be on the ship as planned.

[npcl]

Just now, elliair said:

Did they find out where it came from?  There's a lot of speculation going on. 

From everything I have read they are still doing genetic tree tracing to determine which animal it transferred from.  However the Corona virus family is pretty widespread and common.  The last I have seen indicates that it may have emerged from a virus related to SARS which came from Civet Cats.

[npcl]

8 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

 

A bit of hope:

https://www.axios.com/vaccine-coronavirus-human-trials-1e52aefa-094e-4724-b794-14e4f76369dd.html

In phase 1 in April basically still means you might, if everything goes well, have an available vaccine early in 2021.  There are several candidates out there.

[bluesea321]

5 minutes ago, npcl said:

In phase 1 in April basically still means you might, if everything goes well, have an available vaccine early in 2021.  There are several candidates out there.

Yes, the second article stated:

"There are a dozen research projects underway to try to come up with a vaccine for the Chinese coronavirus, Biocentury reports. A vaccine is not a short-term solution controlling this epidemic, but it is an important tool that could control it for subsequent years if this virus continues to circulate in humans, said Andy Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health."

Edited February 10, 2020 by bluesea321

[ilikeanswers]

1 hour ago, elliair said:

I read in another article by epidemiologists that they believe the corona came from pigs.  We just don't know, there's Level 4 biolabs in many places and who knows what they've been mixing together.  Did this virus get released from one of those Level 4 labs?  Is the sequencing done on this virus?  So many variables.  WHO is on their way to China finally with the permission of the Chinese government.  What took them so long to allow WHO to come?  The CDC has been there for at least a couple of weeks now.  Too little too late IMHO.  I'm waiting for the final word as to how, what, when, and where.

 

This suggest there has been some genome sequencing

Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding

[Aus Traveller]

48 minutes ago, elliair said:

No, that wasn't the case.  My sister knowing that we cruise a lot emailed me and told me about the quarantine on the ship and that their friends were onboard.  This was before it hit the news.  She emailed me asking for information on the ship, etc.  The Diamond Princess was our first ever Princess cruise.

Sorry. There is something wrong in the information from your sister. 🙂I cannot believe that any passengers who were on the Diamond Princess when the quarantine was put in place (around 4th Feb?) would have been allowed to disembark and fly home to Texas.

[sydgal]

If what you are saying about the passengers getting off the Diamond Princess and going home is correct, the only possible way is that they were released from hospital  because they did not have the virus and were sent home. A passenger Alan maybe released from hospital soon but his wife is still in quarantine on the ship and can’t leave to be with him until 19 Feb.

 

[polmcs]

4 hours ago, brisalta said:

 

The Westerdam had taken on passengers in China.  There are small islands in the Pacific that have banned cruise ships for other reasons. The Daily Mail is known as fish wrap among other things. (It is only reliable for wrapping fish and chips in).

Sadly, wrapping fish and chips from the chippy in the UK has been illegal since the early 90’s . This means that the only acceptable use for the Daily Mail newspaper is to line the bottom of the budgerigar’s cage 😉 

[matadams4u]

1 hour ago, Deborahw58 said:

We are due to fly to Singapore on the 20th February, two nights in Singapore then join the sapphire to travel to Thailand and Vietnam. Then go to Bali for five nights. I am not so much worried about catching the corona virus as we will practice good hygiene as we always do. I'm more worried about arriving in Singapore and finding that the ship is in quarantine and we cannot board. This is a trip of a lifetime for us, not least because I have a medical condition that will curtail my lifespan. I dread the thought that we will fly for 14 hours, board the ship and not be able to disembark at the countries we are so looking forward to seeing. Although princess will allow us to cancel the cruise and re-book another we have booked through a travel agent and the flights and hotels either side of the cruise were booked separately so we would lose them. I was talking to my daughters friend who's brother lives in ho chi minh City, he said all the shops and schools are closed and everyone is staying at home. Are many of the excursions likely to be cancelled or will we just wander round empty towns or villages? 

I’m afraid the news from Singapore has not been very good for the last couple days -

— 8% of the exhibitors to their upcoming air show have cancelled. 
- one of the new cases was an employee at a large casino and depending on the outcome of the investigation of that case it could have some implications.

- the complexity of travel through Hong Kong provides an example - flights are allowed but ships won’t allow you to board

- the cases reported in Singapore this weekend are somewhat complex so depending on the containment assessment they could impact things in Singapore.

- as other passengers have discovered things can change in one or two days depending on whether cases are fully contained - individual plus all contacts.

- I know my employer is grappling with how to deal with employees traveling to affected areas and right now they are requiring a 14 day quarantine depending on the area but the situation in some countries has the possibility of changing based on whether all cases are contained and stay contained.

 

The issue with the Westerdam is not only finding a port but finding a safe port that would allow for safe transport to home countries.  

[brisalta]

15 minutes ago, polmcs said:

Sadly, wrapping fish and chips from the chippy in the UK has been illegal since the early 90’s . This means that the only acceptable use for the Daily Mail newspaper is to line the bottom of the budgerigar’s cage 😉 

 

15 minutes ago, polmcs said:

Sadly, wrapping fish and chips from the chippy in the UK has been illegal since the early 90’s . This means that the only acceptable use for the Daily Mail newspaper is to line the bottom of the budgerigar’s cage 😉 

 

That is spiteful animal cruelty!!! Poor budgerigar! 😉

Edited February 10, 2020 by brisalta

[VK3DQ]

Hi Folks

 

Just a word on quarantine its not there to protect those on the ship , but to protect those on shore from getting what is on the ship.. be clear about this there is no way that they can totally stop spread of infection on the ship..In the days of the Black Death a plague ship would be cast of to drift until all on her were dead and then the ship would be destroyed by fire

 

This is of coarse  all good fun  I dont  expect Diamond Princess to go up in smoke but those on board her will have to wait until at least 15 days after the last case of infection , this could turn out to be a long wait.

 

Australia and New Zealand appear to be safe at the moment so I suggest holidays down under would be ok

 

Regards

John

[Aus Traveller]

I found this report interesting. It indicates that the crew as well as the passengers have been asked to remain in their cabins. We don't know if the crew are preparing and delivering meals, or if staff have been brought on board to do this.

 

The latest situation report - https://www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200209-sitrep-20-ncov.pdf?sfvrsn=6f80d1b9_4