PRINCESS SHIPS & CORONA VIRUS

[in rod we trust]

thank goodness the aussie gov is putting them in another 14 day quarantine  I would make it at least 21 to be on the safe side .  well done Australian gov . the containment of this virus must come first , no matter what.

[dog]

Jan Swartz just on CNN and also mentioned on Princess website Feb 19 th passengers testing negative are given a certificate of clearance to disembark. How did those 14 positives disembark without that certificate being checked?

 

what is the truth?

Edited February 19, 2020 by dog

[bluesea321]

1 hour ago, dog said:

Jan Swartz just on CNN and also mentioned on Princess website Feb 19 th passengers testing negative are given a certificate of clearance to disembark. How did those 14 positives disembark without that certificate being checked?

 

what is the truth?

 

The US passengers on the returning plane did not need nor were issued "certificates", they were just screened.  After they were on the buses Japan announced that 14 of them had tested positive. The US officials found out about the positives after the Japanese authorities allowed them to disembark so the US allowed them to fly back rather than pulling them off.

 

And those certificates that Jan Swartz is touting mean nothing. The US, Canada, Australia, S. Korea, Hong Kong, Israel, etc. etc. will not accept their citizens without a real 14 day quarantine back home. They all feel that the quarantine on the ship was not effective in isolating passengers. Japan so far is the only country letting pax roam free. I hope it works for them.

https://www.ft.com/content/91446bd6-52b8-11ea-8841-482eed0038b1

Edited February 19, 2020 by bluesea321

[Cairn Mom]

The US plan was to repatriate everyone who wanted to go. They knowingly took people who were positive, but asymptomatic, with Corvid 19. Regardless, all passengers were going into a 14 day quarantine once back on US soil.  I think 13 passengers are at a special facility in Nebraska. The rest are segregated on two military bases. 
I’m way more worried about the 143 other people on the plane with the lady from the Westerdam. They were all exposed and they all got on other flights to go home. That’s a potentially huge mess.

 

 

[Sunny AZ Girl]

After seeing how everything was handled on the ship I would not be surprised if the majority of the people (both guests and crew) end up testing positive.  It is being treated as airborne, yet I have not seen that confirmed. Please let me know if I am wrong about that.    Even if it is just droplet the procedures on the ship would allow it to spread easily.  Also, the isolation of the passengers on the plane, combined with better isolation procedures implemented by the US personal on the plane was more than likely more effective in keeping the other people safe than they were on the ship.  But treating everyone as positive when they first arrive back in the US is probably a wise move.

 

As far as people saying that they lied about their test results is concerned - whether they tested positive or not, reporting it to the US officials would not have been on the "honor system".  The fact is, due to language barriers I believe many passengers never really knew what their results were, if they were told anything at all.  People may not have felt well and did not report that. However, the actual test results were given to the US authorities by the Japanese after the US had taken over the care of these people and  the decision was made to isolate on the plane and bring them home.  Personally, I am glad that they came home where they could recover properly. 

[Cruise Raider]

8 hours ago, caribill said:

 

They later explained that having been told the results of their testing but being let off the ship for the trip to the USA that they assumed it meant they had tested negative. They did not lie to say they were not infected, they thought no news was good news since they were allowed to leave the ship.

 

The separation on the plane seemed to be a curtain between them and the other passengers. With only four portable restrooms on the plane, we do not know if one was reserved just for them or not.

 

I suspect that they were allowed to get on the plane because paperwise they had been processed to leave Japan before getting on a bus to the airport including giving up their passports until reaching the USA. The bureaucracy required to get them readmitted to Japan may have been too difficult to go through. Again, just speculation on my part as to why the 14 infected passengers were allowed to fly..

 

I agree with you on how those 14 infected passengers were allowed to fly.  The protocols in place (after working with infection control for several years) are mind boggling.  

I am understanding why that couple 'made up' a story to get off the ship and then later explained that they thought they were clear ... usually the first words out are more connected to the truth than the back pedaling.  With what was going on over there with the wishy washy protocols and sloppy infection control processes, I may have lied, too, just to get back to the US and let the chips fall where they may. 

Now, if I'm ever on trial for something I am guilty of, I want you to be on the jury.  JK!  

😉 

 

[azbirdmom]

3 hours ago, Sunny AZ Girl said:

After seeing how everything was handled on the ship I would not be surprised if the majority of the people (both guests and crew) end up testing positive.  It is being treated as airborne, yet I have not seen that confirmed. Please let me know if I am wrong about that.    Even if it is just droplet the procedures on the ship would allow it to spread easily.  Also, the isolation of the passengers on the plane, combined with better isolation procedures implemented by the US personal on the plane was more than likely more effective in keeping the other people safe than they were on the ship.  But treating everyone as positive when they first arrive back in the US is probably a wise move.

 

As far as people saying that they lied about their test results is concerned - whether they tested positive or not, reporting it to the US officials would not have been on the "honor system".  The fact is, due to language barriers I believe many passengers never really knew what their results were, if they were told anything at all.  People may not have felt well and did not report that. However, the actual test results were given to the US authorities by the Japanese after the US had taken over the care of these people and  the decision was made to isolate on the plane and bring them home.  Personally, I am glad that they came home where they could recover properly. 

 

The ones who got on the plane who were positive did not yet have their results at the point they disembarked the ship.  Unfortunately one other couple got bad news just as they were getting ready to disembark when the wife learned that she was positive.  The husband was the one who reportedly had been lobbying a local congressman to have the US send a plane for them.  Both husband and wife are still in Japan, and their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot in San Antonio.  https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/elizabethton-couple-quarantined-separated-in-japan-hopeful-to-return-in-next-few-days/

[Sunny AZ Girl]

17 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The ones who got on the plane who were positive did not yet have their results at the point they disembarked the ship.  Unfortunately one other couple got bad news just as they were getting ready to disembark when the wife learned that she was positive.  The husband was the one who reportedly had been lobbying a local congressman to have the US send a plane for them.  Both husband and wife are still in Japan, and their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot in San Antonio.  https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/elizabethton-couple-quarantined-separated-in-japan-hopeful-to-return-in-next-few-days/

I did not know that! Thanks for the update 

[sunshine 229]

23 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The ones who got on the plane who were positive did not yet have their results at the point they disembarked the ship.  Unfortunately one other couple got bad news just as they were getting ready to disembark when the wife learned that she was positive.  The husband was the one who reportedly had been lobbying a local congressman to have the US send a plane for them.  Both husband and wife are still in Japan, and their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot in San Antonio.  https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/elizabethton-couple-quarantined-separated-in-japan-hopeful-to-return-in-next-few-days/

SO let me get this straight... this luggage, and contents,  that has been in a cabin with a corona virus infected passenger for several weeks is now just floating around a US parking lot somewhere? Am I being overly paranoid or does anyone else see a problem with this? 

[AlyssaJames]

8 minutes ago, sunshine 229 said:

SO let me get this straight... this luggage, and contents,  that has been in a cabin with a corona virus infected passenger for several weeks is now just floating around a US parking lot somewhere? Am I being overly paranoid or does anyone else see a problem with this? 

 

Honestly, it sounds really improbable to me, and after this:

 

"The husband was the one who reportedly had been lobbying a local congressman to have the US send a plane for them."

 

... it makes me have serious doubts about the veracity of the 'abandoned in a parking lot' claim. It asks us to believe a lot of things, including that some airport worker or driver in the US would somehow know whose luggage it was, and then freak out do the least responsible thing possible, just leaving it in a parking lot. 

 

In other words, until proven otherwise, I feel like this is an attention-grab. 

Edited February 19, 2020 by AlyssaJames

[dog]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

 

The ones who got on the plane who were positive did not yet have their results at the point they disembarked the ship.  Unfortunately one other couple got bad news just as they were getting ready to disembark when the wife learned that she was positive.  The husband was the one who reportedly had been lobbying a local congressman to have the US send a plane for them.  Both husband and wife are still in Japan, and their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot in San Antonio.  https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/elizabethton-couple-quarantined-separated-in-japan-hopeful-to-return-in-next-few-days/

Don’t know about the luggage, but did see him on a newscast saying wife tested positive and they were not going on plane. 

[bluesea321]

1 hour ago, azbirdmom said:

Both husband and wife are still in Japan, and their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot in San Antonio.  https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/elizabethton-couple-quarantined-separated-in-japan-hopeful-to-return-in-next-few-days/

 

Let me speculate (bad to do, I know). Lackland Air Force Base is on the outskirts of San Antonio. I can envision their luggage being loaded on the buses in Yokohama and sent to Lackland on the plane without the couple. So they empty the plane at Lackland, remove the luggage, and nobody claims it...  And the story goes from there, "luggage abandoned in parking lot in San Antonio". I suspect that the luggage was eventually retrieved like all other luggage and is likely on the base now. 

[Pushka]

The virus won’t last long on inanimate objects. The luggage will be fine. 

[sunshine 229]

9 minutes ago, Pushka said:

The virus won’t last long on inanimate objects. The luggage will be fine. 

9 days seems like a reasonably long length of time to me in a case like this. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/17/health/novel-coronavirus-surfaces-study/index.html

 

 

[Pushka]

6 minutes ago, sunshine 229 said:

9 days seems like a reasonably long length of time to me in a case like this. 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/17/health/novel-coronavirus-surfaces-study/index.html

 

 

Lots of untested variables there but it is interesting. 

[azbirdmom]

Just tried to find an update on the Hopland's and her positive test may have been a false positive.  Hoping this provides relief to those worried about someone catching the virus from a suitcase. 😉  https://www.wbir.com/article/news/health/wife-of-east-tennessee-couple-tests-negative-for-coronavirus-in-tokyo-hospital/51-0682f2d4-506e-4ebc-af89-4ae98ea40313

[GeezerCouple]

Apparently two passengers from the Diamond Princess have passed away.  They were in their 80's.

DH said something about this just flashed across his screen, and he's looking for a real citation.  (He found one but needs to get it translated.  I'll try to add that here shortly.)

 

This is really going to be nasty, for everyone - the Diamond Princess passengers, and then the rest of us... not to mention the 2,000+ others who have already passed, mostly in China.

 

Not good.

 

ETA:  citation for info above:

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-19/china-eyes-hna-takeover-hubei-says-108-new-deaths-virus-update

 

Another citation:

 

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/20/coronavirus-latest-updates-hubei-china-deaths.html

 

GC

 

Edited February 20, 2020 by GeezerCouple

[Level six]

Oh no.  That is just horrible.  I hope that the others who were on the Diamond are going to be okay.  

 

[Pushka]

While of course it isn’t reassuring for anyone the couple were in their ‘80s and the elderly do seem to be at more risk from this virus but in reality that is the case with any virus. 

[sunshine 229]

5 hours ago, azbirdmom said:

Just tried to find an update on the Hopland's and her positive test may have been a false positive.  Hoping this provides relief to those worried about someone catching the virus from a suitcase. 😉  https://www.wbir.com/article/news/health/wife-of-east-tennessee-couple-tests-negative-for-coronavirus-in-tokyo-hospital/51-0682f2d4-506e-4ebc-af89-4ae98ea40313

 

I'm not so  worried about someone catching the virus from this one batch of luggage (although based on what we do and don't know, right now, about how this virus is transmitted,  I think it is not an impossibility). I am more worried about what it says about the apparent lack of a sensible and well executed plan in dealing with all this moving of so many infected, or possibly infected, people. How does a batch of possible contaminated luggage fall through the cracks? 

[AlyssaJames]

8 minutes ago, sunshine 229 said:

 

I'm not so  worried about someone catching the virus from this one batch of luggage (although based on what we do and don't know, right now, about how this virus is transmitted,  I think it is not an impossibility). I am more worried about what it says about the apparent lack of a sensible and well executed plan in dealing with all this moving of so many infected, or possibly infected, people. How does a batch of possible contaminated luggage fall through the cracks? 

I’m not buying that their luggage ended up abandoned in a US parking lot. 

[freetalkfreelaugh]

2 elderly passengers died and 20 are in critical condition . 

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

While of course it isn’t reassuring for anyone the couple were in their ‘80s and the elderly do seem to be at more risk from this virus but in reality that is the case with any virus. 

Agreed. It is very sad indeed but to put it into perspective I've read (more than once) that at least one passenger dies on a cruise ship every week, mostly elderly people. i'm not sure if that's one person per week per ship though.

[Pushka]

46 minutes ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

Agreed. It is very sad indeed but to put it into perspective I've read (more than once) that at least one passenger dies on a cruise ship every week, mostly elderly people. i'm not sure if that's one person per week per ship though.

Indeed this is true. It was reported that there were 10 deaths on QM2 during the world voyage a few years ago. Their morgue has I think it was, 6 spaces. 

[Aus Traveller]

5 minutes ago, Pushka said:

Indeed this is true. It was reported that there were 10 deaths on QM2 during the world voyage a few years ago. Their morgue has I think it was, 6 spaces. 

On some of our longer cruises (more than 28 days) we have been mortuary vans waiting at most ports of call. Sad but true.