Diamond Princess passenger "tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus"

[Stateroom_Sailor]

2 hours ago, cruiserchuck said:

So is anyone really surprised that Japan is going to serve Japanese food?  I certainly am not.

 

I don't think they have time to worry about getting special meals delivered of poor Western diets. 

 

Not everyone is going to see it, and it won't be spelled out until later, but this new phased program IS the quarantine to clear the passengers and crew.  The ship is contaminated, causing new infections, quarantined to protect Japan.  No one is going to be cleared directly off that ship for the airport.  Despite what Princess is saying, everyone will eventually go through this process.  Better to state it as an option, otherwise some will fear leaving the ship, or demand being picked for phase 1.  Giving everyone a clean Japanese diet during this time will only help their immunity.

[MelissaE1]

34 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

No.  Best available information about Corona suggests that the virus can’t live very long outside a host.

 

I am not a trained medical professional by any stretch, but I found this article the other day in Forbes interesting.  A study on general coronaviruses was already underway (not this recent strain) that suggested it could live on hard surfaces for up to 9 days with perfect conditions. They suggested an average of 4-5 days. I'm sure this varies greatly based on environment and surface, but if it holds true for the current virus it may help the understanding of how it spreads. https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2020/02/09/scientists-predict-coronavirus-may-live-for-up-to-nine-days-on-surfaces/#2949f8b314e3

Edited February 13, 2020 by MelissaE1

[hal2008]

 

NYpost and CNN have now reported about crew situation

(These are different English speaking crew but the storyline is same)

 

Crew is subjected to much higher degree of risk (against their objections) than a typical employer will get away with.

[clskinsfan]

I think if I tested negative and had a balcony room I would stay on the ship. You have access to the outside and the food being described for the on land quarantine area doesnt sound great. If you tested negative today after being on the ship for this length of time it would lead me to conclude that the quarantine on ship is working. But this is just my opinion.

[kathy49]

55 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

 

Do virus live long in an empty house?

i don't have the scientific but there is a period beyond which the virus is not active and I don't think it is extremely long...ie 2 days after the ships surfaces would be okay at least the way most viruses work...that said...an extreme deep clean just like one would do at home after a period of being sick.

[K.T.B.]

5 hours ago, debshomespun said:

 

This is certainly a discriminitory statement!  There could be  employees that are shift supervisors at a department store that have saved for this once in a lifetime cruise.  So yes, their job could be on the line.  

 

Not everyone on the Diamond  Princess  is retired!  There are passengers that have regular jobs.

 

You beat me to the response!  And very eloquently and accurately said, too!

[kathy49]

31 minutes ago, npcl said:

hotel, government provided housing.  The point is that it might be smaller than their cruise ship room, without a balcony.  

 

The main point is they should ask for information on the housing.

I am sure each passenger will evaluate things...my thoughts are I will take a smaller room and perhaps less desirable meals to be off that ship where is is clear virus is being passed around.

[bluesea321]

With nearly 6% of the 3,711 passengers and crew members now infected, the cruise ship has the highest infection rate of the coronavirus anywhere in the world.

https://time.com/5783451/covid-19-princess-diamond-cruise-ship/

 

One has to question whether the quarantine is working or not. "Wuhan, China, the city where the disease is believed to have originated has nearly 33,000 official cases but spread across a population of more than 11 million, that’s an infection rate of less than 0.3%."

Edited February 13, 2020 by bluesea321

[brisalta]

1 hour ago, hal2008 said:

 

 

Realy confused by this imperfect quarrantine on the ship

 

If all pax are going to be let go off the ship after 14 days, has Japan really achieved anything?

wasnt Japan better off in at least taking off 1000 Japaneese pax who were not showing any symptoms and giving them proper quarrantine on the land? 

 

I am not sure what you mean by proper quarantine?

[ed01106]

16 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

With nearly 6% of the 3,711 passengers and crew members now infected, the cruise ship has the highest infection rate of the coronavirus anywhere in the world.

https://time.com/5783451/covid-19-princess-diamond-cruise-ship/

 

One has to question whether the quarantine is working or not.

 

The purpose of the quarantine is NOT to prevent the 3711 people on the ship from getting sick.  The purpose of the quarantine is to prevent the 7.5 billion people not on the ship from getting infected from the 3711 people.

[Host CJSKIDS]

11 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

With nearly 6% of the 3,711 passengers and crew members now infected, the cruise ship has the highest infection rate of the coronavirus anywhere in the world.

https://time.com/5783451/covid-19-princess-diamond-cruise-ship/

 

One has to question whether the quarantine is working or not.

 

 

 

Or possibly these passengers were always going to get ill as it's still in the incubation period.  

 

As it's a new virus and not much is known about it, one can always speculate but even those that are in the infectious disease area don't have all the answers.

 

Basically the quarantine is working since it has kept everyone that is so unfortunately stuck on that ship on the ship and not spreading the disease around to either Japan or to wherever it was they were traveling when they were due to disembark.  

 

 

[kathy49]

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

What about other passengers that disembarked at the same time as the original passenger? Are they not equally as susceptible as everyone on the ship right now? They aren't in quarantine, I'm assuming?

they certainly are and some probably have the virus...I have to assume that Princess has followed up with them

[Maverick61]

22 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

 

One has to question whether the quarantine is working or not. "

 

Asked and answered.   Do you understand what a quarantine is supposed to accomplish?  This was asked just yesterday and I responded to you and another person

 

 

The quarantine for the Diamond is doing what it is intended to do - keep the virus outbreak from passengers on the ship limited to those on the ship and not spread it beyond the ship.

Edited February 13, 2020 by Maverick61

[Mich3554]

6 hours ago, auldlassie said:

Been saying testing everyone on board was the only way forward for days now. Eventually, the inevitability of this expense finally hits the economic fan.....

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday said that the government will bolster testing capabilities for those on the cruise ship to about 1,000 samples per day by Feb. 18 by allowing testing at private facilities. So far, only up to about 300 samples can be tested each day at public health centers nationwide. Kato said the government is contemplating testing all passengers and crew members.

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/12/national/science-health/40-new-coronavirus-cases-cruise-ship-quarantined-japan/#.XkQ74RNKjPA

 

Please, no one repeat to me that Japan could not do this earlier  -  Japan is rich, sophisticated, littered with medical testing facilities and well capable of doing so. It was - and is, the world over, - all about the political "cost versus need" decision.

To start with, not all labs have the capability to do the RT-PCR that the test requires, nor do all techs have the ability.  If you have a CLIA facility, it most likely is working at capacity BEFORE adding a new, complicated clinical test.  So you need to pull clinical staff from other positions, test them out on a new procedure AND require the specialized equipment necessary.  
 

In my experience, even with money being no object, I cannot EVER in 30 years of basic research experience remember a specialized piece of equipment that I needed in the lab showing up in less than 3 weeks once it gets past purchasing.  Usual time is 6-8 weeks.  Now you need to test the equipment, and teach and test the techs on the new equipment.  

Edited February 13, 2020 by Mich3554

[bluesea321]

1 minute ago, ed01106 said:

The purpose of the quarantine is NOT to prevent the 3711 people on the ship from getting sick.  The purpose of the quarantine is to prevent the 7.5 billion people not on the ship from getting infected from the 3711 people.

 

No argument from me, I agree. As the Time article I linked stated, the infection rate on the Diamond clearly shows the risks of infection in such tight environments.

[bluesea321]

5 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

they certainly are and some probably have the virus...I have to assume that Princess has followed up with them

 Fat chance!

[Pushka]

11 minutes ago, Host CJSKIDS said:

 

 

Or possibly these passengers were always going to get ill as it's still in the incubation period.  

 

As it's a new virus and not much is known about it, one can always speculate but even those that are in the infectious disease area don't have all the answers.

 

Basically the quarantine is working since it has kept everyone that is so unfortunately stuck on that ship on the ship and not spreading the disease around to either Japan or to wherever it was they were traveling when they were due to disembark.  

 

 

Exactly. 

[bluesea321]

7 minutes ago, Maverick61 said:

Do you understand what a quarantine is supposed to accomplish?

 

Yes I do, very well as a matter of fact. You however missed my point. I know the purpose of the quarantine is to keep the infected people on the ship from spreading the virus to those not on the ship. However there are many on this website who continue to state that the quarantine is keeping passengers from infecting others on the ship which is definitely not known at this point.

[Host CJSKIDS]

4 minutes ago, bluesea321 said:

 Fat chance!

 

As we don't know what Princess has done, perhaps we can give them the benefit of the doubt.  Anything else is pure speculation unless a few cruisers that were on that cruise report something different.

 

 

[voljeep]

could this be a never ending cycle on the ship?

 

person gets 'sick on Feb 17th ?

[brisalta]

50 minutes ago, kathy49 said:

i don't have the scientific but there is a period beyond which the virus is not active and I don't think it is extremely long...ie 2 days after the ships surfaces would be okay at least the way most viruses work...that said...an extreme deep clean just like one would do at home after a period of being sick.

 

It all depends on the particular virus how long they remain viable. A professor of mine who specialized in viral replication had on his shelf vials of virus samples that were still viable after 20 years. Mind you these were virus that had as their hosts bacteria and could not survive in animal cells. (He was not foolish)

 

The following is simplified but may help some people understand the complexity of the situation. Virus are interesting in another fashion in that they need the cellular machinery of host species to replicate in. Without the host they are inert.  There long term viability depends on various factors such as  the make up of the "shell" and how resistant it is to normal oxidizing or reducing agents in the environment, temperature, etc. They cannot move on their own. So cleanup technique will depend on what is discovered by laboratory scientists as the safest method to use to make sure the virus particles in the contaminated environment are rendered non-viable.

Edited February 13, 2020 by brisalta

[hal2008]

20 minutes ago, ed01106 said:

The purpose of the quarantine is NOT to prevent the 3711 people on the ship from getting sick.  The purpose of the quarantine is to prevent the 7.5 billion people not on the ship from getting infected from the 3711 people.

 

Totally agree.

But one has to see beyond feb 19.

what happens then?

Are rest of Japan/World more at risk then they were on Feb 5 from DP pax/crew?

[Stateroom_Sailor]

1 minute ago, hal2008 said:

 

Totally agree.

But one has to see beyond feb 19.

what happens then?

Are rest of Japan/World more at risk then they were on Feb 5 from DP pax/crew?

 

Absolutely, because nothing will happen on Feb 19th beyond an extension. 

[ceilidh1]

8 minutes ago, voljeep said:

could this be a never ending cycle on the ship?

 

person gets 'sick on Feb 17th ?

This is my confusion, too. My head just can't get around it at all. Given that not everyone has been tested, no one knows how many others on the ship are positive and possibly spreading it....so it could just go on and on and on and on

[brisalta]

2 minutes ago, hal2008 said:

 

Totally agree.

But one has to see beyond feb 19.

what happens then?

Are rest of Japan/World more at risk then they were on Feb 5 from DP pax/crew?

 

It is a matter of containment. Just think of what would happen if just a few passengers were still in the incubation stage and showed no signs but were allowed to travel home. How many people would they infect on the way?