CDC eases Covid protocols including having to Quarantine….I wonder if NCL will as well

[LaCal]

C.D.C. Eases Covid Guidelines, Noting Virus Is ‘Here to Stay’

The new guidelines eliminate quarantines and put less emphasis on social distancing, routine surveillance testing and contact tracing.

 

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened Covid-19 guidelines on Thursday, freeing schools and businesses from the onus of requiring unvaccinated people exposed to the virus to quarantine at home.

The changes are a sharp move away from measures such as social distancing requirements and quarantining, which had polarized much of the country, and effectively acknowledge the way many Americans have been navigating the pandemic for some time. The agency’s action comes as children across the country return to school and many offices have reopened.

 

“We know that Covid-19 is here to stay,” Greta Massetti, a C.D.C. epidemiologist, said at a news briefing on Thursday. “High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place.”

 

I’m wondering if the cruise lines will follow and no longer isolate people if they have Covid onboard 🤔

Personally I think it’s a recipe for disaster and further outbreaks if they do….there’s already a large number of guests coming home w Covid on a lot of the cruises and especially the Alaska ones…..And it’s not just NCL 

[DCGuy64]

8 minutes ago, LaCal said:

Personally I think it’s a recipe for disaster and further outbreaks if they do….there’s already a large number of guests coming home w Covid on a lot of the cruises and especially the Alaska ones…..And it’s not just NCL

Personally, I think you're wrong. The CDC wouldn't be doing this (they're notoriously MORE paranoid than everyone else, always behind the times when it comes to easing restrictions) if there weren't solid evidence for it. I think if you are that worried about disaster and outbreaks, you should stop cruising. I'm serious. I don't know what else to say if the CDC is OK with it but you're not.

[MotownVoice]

We're back to normal.  And normal means every time you go on a cruise you have to watch out for sick people, and avoid going anywhere near people going directly in to the dining room without stopping and disinfecting their hands.  Covid, and Norovirus are now an endemic part of traveling in enclosed spaces.

 

[LaCal]

6 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

Personally, I think you're wrong. The CDC wouldn't be doing this (they're notoriously MORE paranoid than everyone else, always behind the times when it comes to easing restrictions) if there weren't solid evidence for it. I think if you are that worried about disaster and outbreaks, you should stop cruising. I'm serious. I don't know what else to say if the CDC is OK with it but you're not.

Well there’s a lot of guests coming home w Covid after each cruise right now….so to ease protocols even further to me indicates the cases will amp up even more.  Kinda common sense IMO 

 

And while most of the guests coming home w Covid are not having severe symptoms there’s still ones that are 

 

Case in point is the wife and I both came home w Covid on our Alaska cruise….She had very mild symptoms where I had pretty bad ones including severe weakness and congestion for over 2 weeks 

 

It won’t stop us from cruising and we have our next one booked for November but even w testing going away we’ll still be testing ourselves pre cruise and bringing some rapid tests onboard w us 

 

Covid can change up quick and hit people differently…..My buddy had Covid a year ago w barely any symptoms…..now 6 months ago he got it again and has long term Covid still today w bad brain fog and days he can’t remember things…..So IMO better safe as can be 

[Karaboudjan]

27 minutes ago, LaCal said:

C.D.C. Eases Covid Guidelines, Noting Virus Is ‘Here to Stay’

The new guidelines eliminate quarantines and put less emphasis on social distancing, routine surveillance testing and contact tracing.

 

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened Covid-19 guidelines on Thursday, freeing schools and businesses from the onus of requiring unvaccinated people exposed to the virus to quarantine at home.

The changes are a sharp move away from measures such as social distancing requirements and quarantining, which had polarized much of the country, and effectively acknowledge the way many Americans have been navigating the pandemic for some time. The agency’s action comes as children across the country return to school and many offices have reopened.

 

“We know that Covid-19 is here to stay,” Greta Massetti, a C.D.C. epidemiologist, said at a news briefing on Thursday. “High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place.”

 

I’m wondering if the cruise lines will follow and no longer isolate people if they have Covid onboard 🤔

Personally I think it’s a recipe for disaster and further outbreaks if they do….there’s already a large number of guests coming home w Covid on a lot of the cruises and especially the Alaska ones…..And it’s not just NCL 

 

If the cruise lines stop isolating people with COVID that would not be following; it would be going against CDC recommendations.  This update was only about people who are exposed, not infected.

 

[DCGuy64]

10 minutes ago, LaCal said:

Covid can change up quick and hit people differently…..My buddy had Covid a year ago w barely any symptoms…..now 6 months ago he got it again and has long term Covid still today w bad brain fog and days he can’t remember things…..So IMO better safe as can be 

Absolutely. Everyone must do what he feels is in his best interests. But, and I'm sure you already know this, but the CDC has already taken that into account. The CDC knows that some people will still get Covid and potentially pass it on to other people. And yet, even with that knowledge, they're comfortable rolling back the restrictions. What they're doing, and I think it's very wise, is allowing people to make their own choices and have the freedom to do what they feel is best. IMO: Good, and about time!

[HaveWeMetYet]

Not much really changes except item 3.

 

Recommending that if you test positive for COVID-19, you stay home for at least 5 days and isolate from others in your home.

 

Recommending that if you had moderate illness you need to isolate through day 10.

 

 

• Recommending that instead of quarantining if you were exposed to COVID-19, you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.

[Oceansaway17]

2 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Personally, I think you're wrong. The CDC wouldn't be doing this (they're notoriously MORE paranoid than everyone else, always behind the times when it comes to easing restrictions) if there weren't solid evidence for it. I think if you are that worried about disaster and outbreaks, you should stop cruising. I'm serious. I don't know what else to say if the CDC is OK with it but you're not.

agree and let us not forget that norovirus or food poisoning can be even worse on a ship.

 

I will however still wear a mask in crowded rooms and elevators just because I can.

[dcipjr]

To be honest, I'm more afraid of being quarantined on the cruise in a tiny inside cabin than anything.

 

It would be a plus if they shift to isolating people in their own cabins. Treat it like noro.

[DCGuy64]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I will however still wear a mask in crowded rooms and elevators just because I can.

Then the rest of us will laugh and point at you. 😉 (JK, my wife often wears a mask just to be on the safe side)

[njhorseman]

11 hours ago, LaCal said:

C.D.C. Eases Covid Guidelines, Noting Virus Is ‘Here to Stay’

The new guidelines eliminate quarantines and put less emphasis on social distancing, routine surveillance testing and contact tracing.

 

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention loosened Covid-19 guidelines on Thursday, freeing schools and businesses from the onus of requiring unvaccinated people exposed to the virus to quarantine at home.

The changes are a sharp move away from measures such as social distancing requirements and quarantining, which had polarized much of the country, and effectively acknowledge the way many Americans have been navigating the pandemic for some time. The agency’s action comes as children across the country return to school and many offices have reopened.

 

“We know that Covid-19 is here to stay,” Greta Massetti, a C.D.C. epidemiologist, said at a news briefing on Thursday. “High levels of population immunity due to vaccination and previous infection, and the many tools that we have available to protect people from severe illness and death, have put us in a different place.”

 

I’m wondering if the cruise lines will follow and no longer isolate people if they have Covid onboard 🤔

Personally I think it’s a recipe for disaster and further outbreaks if they do….there’s already a large number of guests coming home w Covid on a lot of the cruises and especially the Alaska ones…..And it’s not just NCL 

What you quoted, without a citation of the source to boot, isn't accurate.

The CDC eliminated the quarantine recommendation only for those who were exposed to COVID but have not tested positive for COVID. They are asked to wear a mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.

Those who have tested positive are still asked to isolate for 5 days.

 

Better to take the information from the source...the CDC.

https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2022/p0811-covid-guidance.html

 

• Recommending that instead of quarantining if you were exposed to COVID-19, you wear a high-quality mask for 10 days and get tested on day 5.
• Reiterating that regardless of vaccination status, you should isolate from others when you have COVID-19.
  • You should also isolate if you are sick and suspect that you have COVID-19 but do not yet have test results.
    • If your results are positive, follow CDC’s full isolation recommendations.
    • If your results are negative, you can end your isolation.
• Recommending that if you test positive for COVID-19, you stay home for at least 5 days and isolate from others in your home.  You are likely most infectious during these first 5 days. Wear a high-quality mask when you must be around others at home and in public.
  • If after 5 days you are fever-free for 24 hours without the use of medication, and your symptoms are improving, or you never had symptoms, you may end isolation after day 5.
  • Regardless of when you end isolation, avoid being around people who are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19 until at least day 11.
  • You should wear a high-quality mask through day 10.

[Oceansaway17]

8 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Then the rest of us will laugh and point at you. 😉 (JK, my wife often wears a mask just to be on the safe side)

laugh at me and also your wife I suppose.   

[Catnip]

13 hours ago, MotownVoice said:

We're back to normal.  And normal means every time you go on a cruise you have to watch out for sick people, and avoid going anywhere near people going directly in to the dining room without stopping and disinfecting their hands.  Covid, and Norovirus are now an endemic part of traveling in enclosed spaces.

 

EXACTLY  right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[DCGuy64]

On 8/12/2022 at 11:11 PM, Oceansaway17 said:

laugh at me and also your wife I suppose.   

Unfortunately the public has been so trained to spot Covid, you can't even cough or sneeze anymore without people assuming the worst. My wife and I both have been having some coughing issues, and both of us reflexively assumed we had Covid. Nope. I mean, people *did* cough and sneeze before 2020, right?

[ChiefMateJRK]

12 minutes ago, DCGuy64 said:

I mean, people *did* cough and sneeze before 2020, right?

Of course not.  Haven't you been paying attention?  I have an old dictionary laying around here somewhere.  I'll check, but I'll bet you a buck that the words cough and sneeze are nowhere to be found.  

[scooter6139]

1 minute ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Of course not.  Haven't you been paying attention?  I have an old dictionary laying around here somewhere.  I'll check, but I'll bet you a buck that the words cough and sneeze are nowhere to be found.  

 

*gasp*  You are consulting an old fashioned analog book?  How quaint!  Our Google Overlords will not permit such blasphemy!  😆

[ChiefMateJRK]

5 minutes ago, scooter6139 said:

 

*gasp*  You are consulting an old fashioned analog book?  How quaint!  Our Google Overlords will not permit such blasphemy!  😆

Yeah, you caught me.  I just made that part up.  🤣

[graphicguy]

The positive in all of this, NCL kept a pretty tight rein on their health protocols for the last 18+ months.  I jumped back into cruising after the shutdown when NCL announced their protocols.

 

Now, things are getting back to normal (relatively).  But, I am more cognizant of those around me when I travel and embark.

 

Used to be, I’d more or less ignore that person(s) who were hacking and sneezing at the pier.  Now, I keep my distance….even when I see them on board.  I think NCL has changed (for the better) their health processes as a result of COVID shutdown and subsequent re-start.

 

Truth told, I wish the cruise lines were even more diligent in screening people who may spread things like Noro virus as they did for COVID.

 

Personally, if I’m sick, the last place I’d want to be is on a cruise ship.  Yet, we all see them board with no regard to how them may affect other passengers with whatever malady they have.

[BermudaBound2014]

To the OP: I believe cruise lines we will see fewer and fewer people in quarantine for a whole array of reasons 🙂. 

 

NCL's protocols have continuously evolved over the entire pandemic. I see no reason to believe they will stop now :). 

[dcipjr]

29 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

Personally, if I’m sick, the last place I’d want to be is on a cruise ship.  Yet, we all see them board with no regard to how them may affect other passengers with whatever malady they have.

 

I think a lot of people don't want to miss out on their vacation because they get sick, and are afraid they'd have to cancel and lose everything. Thus, they go even when sick.

 

One of the best ways NCL can prevent COVID cases aboard the ship is to continue to retain the policy where if you test positive within 14 days of your cruise, you get a 100% FCC. 

 

(yes, I know, "You should get insurance"...everyone should, but I'd say most people don't...combine that with a fairly rigid cancellation policy, and you'll get sick people boarding cruise ships).

[mjkacmom]

If folks test positive on the ship, I’d assume they’d be quarantined 5 days, that won’t change.

[Oceansaway17]

5 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Unfortunately the public has been so trained to spot Covid, you can't even cough or sneeze anymore without people assuming the worst. My wife and I both have been having some coughing issues, and both of us reflexively assumed we had Covid. Nope. I mean, people *did* cough and sneeze before 2020, right?

yes they did.

And on cruise ships if in loud venues and trying to talk, one can develop a cough from over talking. and or air conditioning.

[graphicguy]

Frankly, I find it pretty easy to spot someone with a "regular" cough, and someone who sounds like their entire nasal plumbing is being evicted from their body.  Those are the people who should be reported for additional check in procedures.

 

Everybody has a story, right?  This was well before COVID.  It was a trip to Bermuda from NYC.  It was on the Breakaway.  It was the first trip where the GF and I would be staying together for an extended period of time.  Also, it was her first cruise.  So, kind of a litmus test of sorts (we're still together, so it worked).

 

Pulling up to the pier in our taxi, her first glimpse of a ship that was so large was priceless.  She stood at the pier agape.

 

It was also the first time in the Haven.  So, we were swept up past the crowd to the Haven checkin area.  Sitting on a couch next to us was a lady who obviously had some sort of respiratory issue and did not look well at all.

 

I'm more of a "what?  Me Worry?" Alfred P. Neumann type of person.  The girlfriend?  Not so much (and rightfully so)!  She kept picking up her purse and moving further and further away from this person, to the point, we ended up on the other side of the room.

 

Lady in question took offense and loudly announced to the rest of those in the Haven checkin area how we (GF and I) thought we were better than everyone else.  Now, this person insulted me, but more unforgivable, she insulted my GF. I proceeded to traipse back over to where this lady was sitting and promptly corrected her perceptions.

 

Long story short, her behavior was being observed by the check in agents.  Not sure what happened, but as the small group was being gathered to be escorted on board, the hacking lady was asked to go to the checkin desk to re-check her reservation.  As we were leaving the Haven check in area onto the ship, we could hear the lady (and her family) loudly protesting that she was not sick, and she was not going to submit to what appeared/sounded to be a request to be examined by some sort of medical personnel at the port.

 

Never saw her (or her family) on board.

 

Point being, I get you don't want to lose out on a cruise because of illness.  But, it's terribly irresponsible to subject thousands of other people on board with whatever malady you are suffering from.  Again, that's why trip insurance is imperative.

[Catnip]

On 8/16/2022 at 12:54 PM, DCGuy64 said:

Unfortunately the public has been so trained to spot Covid, you can't even cough or sneeze anymore without people assuming the worst. My wife and I both have been having some coughing issues, and both of us reflexively assumed we had Covid. Nope. I mean, people *did* cough and sneeze before 2020, right?

Exactly right!  There are folks (like me) that have allergies that cause them to cough.  Some people get coughing as a side effect from a medication.  Some folks have bronchitis or other pulmonary problems.
Coughs are not always covid related and many coughs are just that....coughs.  Not dangerous & not contagious.