So Many Cruise Ships are Yellow Status

[CalLuvsCrusingToo]

I just checked the CDC Cruise Ship Color Status updated Dec. 28, 2021.

 

All Princess ships are Yellow status, except for Crown which is Green & Crew Only.

 

Its Not just Princess, Yellow status appears across most of the cruise carriers.

 

 

 

[Ferry_Watcher]

CDC link

 

https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/cruise-ship-color-status.html

 

 

[nocl]

3 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

I just checked the CDC Cruise Ship Color Status updated Dec. 28, 2021.

 

All Princess ships are Yellow status, except for Crown which is Green & Crew Only.

 

Its Not just Princess, Yellow status appears across most of the cruise carriers.

 

 

 

The crown shouldn't be green anymore since it is now being used as a quarantine ship for crew members that have tested positive from other ships.  HAL moved some crew to the Crown a few days ago.

[fpsphil]

3 minutes ago, nocl said:

The crown shouldn't be green anymore since it is now being used as a quarantine ship for crew members that have tested positive from other ships.  HAL moved some crew to the Crown a few days ago.

That would explain the crowns strange behavior on Sunday going into San Diego and anchoring off the dock for an hour then leaving

[deadzone1003]

If a Princess ship is running at 50% capacity and 2 passengers tested positive, it is in yellow status (> 0.1% of passengers).  So it is quite easy to reach yellow status right now.  Question is how close is each ship is to red status?  With Omicron and low passenger count, the medical facilities are not overwhelmed and there are plenty of cabins to quarantine people.  Almost all cases are asymptomatic or very mild.  Might be harder to reach red status than one might think.

[fpsphil]

2 minutes ago, deadzone1003 said:

If a Princess ship is running at 50% capacity and 2 passengers tested positive, it is in yellow status (> 0.1% of passengers).  So it is quite easy to reach yellow status right now.  Question is how close is each ship is to red status?  With Omicron and low passenger count, the medical facilities are not overwhelmed and there are plenty of cabins to quarantine people.  Almost all cases are asymptomatic or very mild.  Might be harder to reach red status than one might think.

At this point I highly doubt a medical center would be overwhelmed with the amount of spare cabins that can be used + mild symptoms

 

[memoak]

You can reach yellow stayis with one crew positive test 

[caribill]

As testing is mostly done two days before embarkation, all that the testing proves is that the passengers did not have detectable levels of the virus at that time.

 

By embarkation it can almost be guaranteed that some passengers will board with Covid-19.

 

When Princess restarted in the UK, they provided embarkation day testing without cost to all the passengers. This meant that although some infected people without detectable levels of the virus may board, it will be a lesser number than if two day old tests were the criteria.

 

In the USA, Princess decided not to provide this embarkation day testing. My guess is they did this to save $$$. So this means that cruises from the USA do not have the latest possible testing of passengers and also means that the passengers must figure out how to get testing done with results back in time.

 

 

[hllwdcruiser]

On the news this morning:

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that preliminary research shows some rapid antigen tests may be less sensitive at detecting the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus. They specifically targeted home tests...

That there may be the source of the issue....

 

[voljeep]

12 minutes ago, hllwdcruiser said:

On the news this morning:

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that preliminary research shows some rapid antigen tests may be less sensitive at detecting the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus. They specifically targeted home tests...

That there may be the source of the issue....

 

This ... changes coming ??

[mtnesterz]

2 hours ago, SargassoPirate said:

The viruses that cause Covid are doing what viruses do.  They mutate into less deadly and more transmissible variants in order to survive.  They need living hosts.  If the virus kills the host quickly, it doesn't have a chance to mutate into a less deadly variant. Ebola is a good example of that.  It kills the host quickly and doesn't have a chance to mutate into a less deadly version.  Omicron is an example of the virus mutating into a less deadly and more easily transmissible form.

 The Russian flu and the Spanish flu viruses are still with us, circulating as part of the coronavirus family.  If there were tests for the Spanish flu available today, people would be testing positive for it and ships would be code yellow.

Hopefully, policy will reflect this. Take what we have learned, which is ongoing, go on with business and life, not ruining the cruise industry, or any other, in the process.  Perhaps you work in, or like myself, retired from healthcare, because this was well said. I hope your comment is not deleted. I had read that Spanish Flu stuck around for 30 years. With that in mind, my concern is that with testing an established industry, testing and restrictions will remain long after virulence is a concern.

Edited December 29, 2021 by mtnesterz

[SargassoPirate]

3 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

Hopefully, policy will reflect this. Take what we have learned, which is ongoing, go on with business and life, not ruining the cruise industry, or any other, in the process.  Perhaps you work in, or like myself, retired from healthcare, because this was well said. I hope your comment is not deleted. I had read that Spanish Flu stuck around for 30 years. With that in mind, my concern is that with testing an established industry, testing and restrictions will remain long after virulence is a concern.

 Retired from a career in public health and safety.  Experienced in travel immunizations and zoonotic diseases too.

 

Glad I wasn't working during this pandemic.  

[spyro1952]

2 hours ago, voljeep said:

It’s been that way since they were first introduced.  Initially they said about 85% accurate in detecting the original virus.  As the virus mutates, it may be harder to detect with these tests and also do users actually follow the instructions from the manufacturer.

Edited December 29, 2021 by spyro1952
.

[voljeep]

21 minutes ago, spyro1952 said:

It’s been that way since they were first introduced.  Initially they said about 85% accurate in detecting the original virus.  As the virus mutates, it may be harder to detect with these tests and also do users actually follow the instructions from the manufacturer.

I was thinking about the tests for cruising at clinics, etc, as well as the home tests that are monitored by a third party.

[ED49404]

After reviewing the list of ships on the CDC website, the first thing I noticed there is NO red status ships listed.  A bunch of yellow status, but no red ships.

[jwattle]

As much as I love alarmist posts, yellow criteria also can be brought on by the following simple act:

 

During the past 7 days, the ship failed to submit one or more daily EDC submissions on time (by 1200 ET). On a weekly basis, CDC emails all ships a reminder to submit the EDC form. In addition, CDC sends a reminder email if a ship does not submit their EDC form

[travling1]

Maybe we need to follow what the NFL,....the football league, is doing.   They have stopped testing the vaccinated, since most of the positive tests come from the vaccinated.  Too many football schedule changes have been a problem.  The games must go on.  

[cr8tiv1]

6 hours ago, hllwdcruiser said:

On the news this morning:

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that preliminary research shows some rapid antigen tests may be less sensitive at detecting the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus. They specifically targeted home tests...

That there may be the source of the issue....

 

 

Here is a quote:

 

According to the Food and Drug Administration, both the Abbott BinaxNOW and Quidel QuickVue antigen tests are able to detect the omicron variant "with similar performance as with other variants."

 

https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/can-at-home-covid-tests-detect-the-omicron-variant-heres-what-the-fda-and-researchers/2716174/

 

[caribill]

3 hours ago, travling1 said:

Maybe we need to follow what the NFL,....the football league, is doing.   They have stopped testing the vaccinated, since most of the positive tests come from the vaccinated.  Too many football schedule changes have been a problem.  The games must go on.  

 

If understand this correctly, the NFL is saying not to test the people most likely to have a current case of Covid (and thus most likely to spread it to others).

 

No, the cruise lines should not follow what the NFL is doing.

 

Actually, in my opinion, the cruise lines should provide free or low cost embarkation day testing for 100% of the passengers. This is the only way to minimize the number of Covid cases on board.

[nocl]

15 hours ago, caribill said:

As testing is mostly done two days before embarkation, all that the testing proves is that the passengers did not have detectable levels of the virus at that time.

 

By embarkation it can almost be guaranteed that some passengers will board with Covid-19.

 

When Princess restarted in the UK, they provided embarkation day testing without cost to all the passengers. This meant that although some infected people without detectable levels of the virus may board, it will be a lesser number than if two day old tests were the criteria.

 

In the USA, Princess decided not to provide this embarkation day testing. My guess is they did this to save $$$. So this means that cruises from the USA do not have the latest possible testing of passengers and also means that the passengers must figure out how to get testing done with results back in time.

 

 

Mostly because the UK government required on the pier test, the US government did not.  No real choice by Princess.

[ebeluga]

22 hours ago, CalLuvsCrusingToo said:

I just checked the CDC Cruise Ship Color Status updated Dec. 28, 2021.

 

All Princess ships are Yellow status, except for Crown which is Green & Crew Only.

 

Its Not just Princess, Yellow status appears across most of the cruise carriers.

 

 

 

Not surprising at all with Omicron, a lot of breakthrough cases, so vaccination status does not carry the same weight as it used to with other variants regarding testing positive.  However the ship cases are still a whole lot better than on land where Los Angeles County alone today reports 16500+ new cases.

 

However, the ship cases would not offer a whole lot of comfort for cruisers who fall under the high risk categories

[deliver42]

CDC is investigating 69 ships and that's the reason for the yellow.

[reedprincess]

FWIW - there were 12 positives in back to back guests for the Dec 29 cruise on Regal. 311 back to backers 12 positives, and two others that had tested positive earlier in the Dec 21 cruise. Every single positive case, and every person traveling in their cabin with them were disembarked today (after spending the afternoon/night of the 28th in the quarantine ward).  The quarantine ward is shockingly full - more cabins than not had room service trays out in front of the cabin when we took our trip to our quarantine room.  Omicron is a logistical nightmare for the cruise lines right now as staff and guests come up positive - but are asymptomatic or barely any symptoms at all. Aboard, it's a full 10 day quarantine, regardless of symptoms. 

All of us that were chatting in the Covid pick-up area off the ship, totally asymptomatic.  Very likely caught in nightclubs or Crooner's as most of us recognized each other from those locations.. and there was two positives earlier in the cruise that had frequented the nightclub the first few nights also.. 

 

Interesting times, to say the least. Frankly, I'm seriously surprised ships aren't Red yet, given the number of cases aboard basically all of them..

 

 

[cr8tiv1]

@reedprincessThank you for a very comprehensive description of b2b and covid results.  I am sorry you had to leave the ship.  What happened to you after that?  Did you need to stay in Fort Lauderdale?

[luv2cruise99]

My question is how do these onboard Covid cases get discovered since most vaccinated Omicron patients are asymptomatic or have only very mild symptoms?  What prompts the ship's personnel to test someone once onboard?