Dr. Fauci: "Above all, don't get on a cruise ship."

[steve4031]

Booked on an August 1 Alaska Cruise on Konigsdam.  We intend to go unless there is a dramatic change for the worst.  I have two trips planned in the next month that do not involve cruising.  I intend to go.  

[ozzie0075]

Really interesting development. Passengers over 70 would need a doctor's note to board a cruise ship 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

Edited March 11, 2020 by ozzie0075

[bennybear]

IMO making these decisions are extremely difficult,  to me this thread serves a different purpose.  Others should just scroll on by! 

[NCTribeFan]

"Similarly, any person with a chronic medical condition who could be at an increased risk if they were to contract COVID-19 should be barred from getting on a cruise ship.
 

Ridiculous.  So, you could be 78 and healthy but need to get a doctor's note saying so.  But if you're 50 with COPD, they'll let you board because people aren't going to voluntarily admit that they have an underlying condition.  How could they possibly enforce that?

 

Only way would be if EVERYONE has a doctor's note saying they were fit to travel.  Imagine how much fun check-in would be!

 

Hey, sounds like a good way to scam the public and the cruise lines.  Set up an online "MD Cruise Health Verification" business and charge everyone $10 to provide a phony certificate of health. 😆

[thinfool]

10 minutes ago, ozzie0075 said:

Really interesting development. Passengers over 70 would need a doctor's note to board a cruise ship 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

proposal: award a free cruise on the Titanic to all espousing this.

[bEwAbG]

This is apparently a proposal from the cruise industry itself, though (if the story is true).  This is their way of keeping from being shut down altogether, so it should probably be taken pretty seriously.  I would question why we would want to burden doctors with this, though, when they've got other fish to fry.

Edited March 11, 2020 by bEwAbG

[gilboman]

3 hours ago, golfer1903 said:

Please stop canceling. This is media blown out of proportion like always

 

do you ever look up how many people get sick and or worse from flu in the USA every single year

 

please don’t fall into the media trap or political  agenda possibly to crumble the country by scaring the nation for no reason

 

pleas live your life.   You have a better chance of getting stuck by lighting in a rain storm .  Do you run and hide when it’s raining??

it's not hype that's causing italy to quarantine their entire freaking country nor is it hype that they're triage people in italy and turning sick people away (especially older ones who they don't view as viable to use resources on)

 

covid19 is much deadlier than the flu and there's no vaccine against it unlike the flu and as it's novel, our bodies have never encountered it and not well equipped to deal with it.  Flu also doesn't cause severe symptoms in 20% of the infected requiring hospitalization

 

so you can and of course free to evaluate your perception of risk on it, but to call a pandemic media trap and political agenda? that's just irresponsible 

[seaoma]

4 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

 

Thank you!  There are plenty of other sources, starting with the politicians' own statements, which is why it's become a story.  It's not "fake news" to listen to someone's words and then ask questions about what they've said.  You can read Gaetz's words on his own Twitter feed. 

 

I don't begrudge anyone getting tested but plenty of their own colleagues are criticizing them for jumping the line when people showing symptoms are not able to be tested because of the scarcity of tests currently available as well as the limited capacity of facilities doing the testing.

 

I'm just wanting people to post facts as it concerns this virus. It shouldn't matter what source you use, as long as the facts are straight. Politics shouldn't play into it, but I guess some people are more focused on that, than the facts.

[Vict0riann]

The WHO has now declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic.  So I think more recommendations will be announced by countries and organizations.

[Oregonhiker]

According to USA Today cruise industry submitting this proposal to Mike Pence.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

 

Also Gov of Washington banning gatherings over 250. May make it hard to get on or off a ship in Seattle

[fatcat04]

7 minutes ago, bEwAbG said:

 

Thank you!  There are plenty of other sources, starting with the politicians' own statements, which is why it's become a story.  It's not "fake news" to listen to someone's words and then ask questions about what they've said.  You can read Gaetz's words on his own Twitter feed. 

 

I don't begrudge anyone getting tested but plenty of their own colleagues are criticizing them for jumping the line when people showing symptoms are not able to be tested because of the scarcity of tests currently available as well as the limited capacity of facilities doing the testing.

Hopefully the bipartisan $8 billion emergency spending package will help with the need for increased testing along with the administration ensuring all major insurers plus Medicaid and Medicare's guarantee of coverage for tests and treatment per usual contract without any nasty surprise billing. More tests are rolling out thankfully. Interesting article from NPR especially the last section entitled " Why hasn't broader testing been available until now? "   https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/02/811314938/coronavirus-testing-what-to-know-as-it-becomes-available-across-the-u-s

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, golfer1903 said:

pleas live your life.   You have a better chance of getting stuck by lighting in a rain storm .  Do you run and hide when it’s raining??

 

Interesting. 

 

I never heard of 696 people being struck by lightning on a single cruise ship (Diamond Princess number of confirmed cases), but what do I know? 

 

It is difficult to make an apples to apples comparison, of course, because COVID-19 is still in the early stages of spread. Also, it is not a random event such as a lightning strike.

 

Suffice it to say, though, that we already know the coronavirus, once established in a country or region, has an exponential curve in its early stages. This has occurred in Wuhan province, in Italy, in Iran. 

 

Epidemiologic studies predict a doubling of cases every 6 days in this stage. So if we use even the laughably low confirmed number of cases in the US currently (1,000), we can expect to see about 32,000 cases a month from now and about 1900 deaths, if it is as severe as what's being seen in Italy. That's just by mid-April.

 

By contrast, from 2009 to 2018, on average, 27 people died each year from lightning strikes in the United States, according to the National Weather Service.

[Indycal]

The post attached is what is happening right now in Italy. They have very good health care, and they are very overwhelmed. This is a hard read, written by just one of the doctors in the trenches. It's time for the US and Canada to be aware of what can come, if we don't stop the spread. This is why you are hearing about conventions and huge celebrations being cancelled.

(the spelling errors occurred because this was a tweet translated from Italian to English) 
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1237142891077697538.html

Edited March 11, 2020 by Indycal
Additional information

[CruisingAndDiving]

With an official pandemic declaration by WHO, ships being turned away from ports will only increase.

[Aquahound]

49 minutes ago, CruisingAndDiving said:

With an official pandemic declaration by WHO, ships being turned away from ports will only increase.

 

I know there's some pretty heavy discussion between CLIA and the government, so it'll be interesting to see in the near future what message comes out of the Beltway.

 

As for Seattle, the governor here just banned all social gatherings of 250+ people.  No more sporting events, concerts, etc.  So far, it does not include transportation, but I wonder about the Seattle cruise terminal since unlike airports, the travelers are 100% recreational. 

[CruisingAndDiving]

1 minute ago, Aquahound said:

 

I know there's some pretty heavy discussion between CLIA and the government, so it'll be interesting to see in the near future what message comes out of the Beltway.

 

As for Seattle, the governor here just banned all social gatherings of 250+ people.  No more sporting events, concerts, etc.  So far, it does not include transportation, but I wonder about the Seattle cruise terminal since unlike airports, the travelers are 100% recreational. 

I read the CLIA information and understand the U.S. Government and the group are trying to come to some sort of compromise.

 

The point I was getting at, was that many "foreign" governments, including mine here in Canada, may look at not allowing ships to dock, at least until the pandemic declaration is lifted.

 

We are already seeing a number of Caribbean destinations turning away ships over the COVID fear.  The declaration makes it easier for them to justify their actions in the short term.

 

So ultimately, if cruises are allowed to sail from the U.S. ports (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, etc)  where will they have to go?

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, CruisingAndDiving said:

 

The point I was getting at, was that many "foreign" governments, including mine here in Canada, may look at not allowing ships to dock, at least until the pandemic declaration is lifted.

We are already seeing a number of Caribbean destinations turning away ships over the COVID fear.  The declaration makes it easier for them to justify their actions in the short term.

 

So ultimately, if cruises are allowed to sail from the U.S. ports (Miami, Fort Lauderdale, etc)  where will they have to go?

 

Exactly that is what I am thinking as well for my trip April 25th from Miami to Western Caribbean.  But at least the cruise line should let you on their OWN island.

[cruisegirl]

What I find confusing is you will read on here or on the internet that a port has closed and then a day later you will hear a ship docked there.  There are reasons beyond the virus that cause ports to close so we need to be careful we don't cause unneeded stress among those trying to make a decision about a future cruise especially when it's before the end of May 2020. 

[*Miss G*]

Meanwhile, a plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop due to a group of passengers freaking out over someone sneezing.  That type of situation would be truly frightening.

 

United Flight Forced to Land

[cruisegirl]

To think that no one is going to sneeze or cough is crazy. But we've been driven to this kind of panic and I'm not surprised.  I sometime go into a sneezing fit of several sneezes until I blow my nose.  It's not the virus, it's not the flu.  It's allergies. 

But I hope I don't get booted off the plane because of it.  I can see that happening. 

[PSR]

6 hours ago, Oregonhiker said:

According to USA Today cruise industry submitting this proposal to Mike Pence.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

 

Also Gov of Washington banning gatherings over 250. May make it hard to get on or off a ship in Seattle

 

If this cruising "ban" goes through, I hope we will get all our money back, especially since it's after final payment....

Edited March 11, 2020 by PSR

[kazu]

8 hours ago, Oregonhiker said:

According to USA Today cruise industry submitting this proposal to Mike Pence.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/03/11/proposal-white-house-cruise-industry-bar-people-70-ships/5020325002/

 

Also Gov of Washington banning gatherings over 250. May make it hard to get on or off a ship in Seattle

 

 

And a friend of mine just got an email from HAL that anyone over 70 needs a doctor’s letter that they have no pre-existing conditions.

I don’t have the email so I guess this is hear say but it’s a trusted source and they are re-thinking their cruise.  What person doesn’t have pre-existing conditions at that age (and no, I’m not 70). Arthritis?, there are all kinds of pre-existing conditions that have no effect and there are plenty of people under 70 with pre-existing conditions

[canadianbear]

5 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

 

And a friend of mine just got an email from HAL that anyone over 70 needs a doctor’s letter that they have no pre-existing conditions.

I don’t have the email so I guess this is hear say but it’s a trusted source and they are re-thinking their cruise.  What person doesn’t have pre-existing conditions at that age (and no, I’m not 70). Arthritis?, there are all kinds of pre-existing conditions that have no effect and there are plenty of people under 70 with pre-existing condition

Another person got same from NCL. 😳 yikes 

[Aquahound]

3 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Another person got same from NCL. 😳 yikes 

 

Same goes for Celebrity.  Considering many cruise lines suddenly implemented this at the same time, I wonder if this was something that came out of CLIA's discussions with the government.  

[kazu]

1 minute ago, Aquahound said:

 

Same goes for Celebrity.  Considering many cruise lines suddenly implemented this at the same time, I wonder if this was something that came out of CLIA's discussions with the government.  

 

I believe it was as I heard Holland America specifically mentioned in one press conference.