Carnival Screening for Ebola

[evandbob]

It seems that the nurse that is fighting quarantine right now is a good example of why self declaration can't be effective. Even knowing that she might have already contracted Ebola while remaining asymptomatic, she is willing to risk the health of those around her to try to prove a point. Unfortunately there are people out there like that.

 

Medical science has proven that a potential ebola patient is not infectious until after they become sick themselves. At the present time, this nurse presents a threat to NO ONE.

 

Doctors Without Borders have been returning to America from ebola hotspots for the last 40 years and not one has infected another person.

 

I understand your fear, but you have more of a chance of catching the norovirus, enterovirus or the flu on a cruise ship than ebola.

 

As far as Carnival's questionnaire, has it ever stopped norovirus?

[Cruise life]

It seems that the nurse that is fighting quarantine right now is a good example of why self declaration can't be effective. Even knowing that she might have already contracted Ebola while remaining asymptomatic, she is willing to risk the health of those around her to try to prove a point. Unfortunately there are people out there like that.

 

 

But she is not hiding the fact that she was caring for ebola patients, she is only challenging the quarantine. She is following the approved guidelines set forth by the company that hired her. The states have had zero experience with ebola up to now and are reacting to the public outcry after the first case was discovered here in the U.S.

It is remarkable that none of Mr. Duncan's family became ill after he was sent home from the E.R. It is becoming clear that the risk of contagion is very low until one is showing signs and then only if one is in direct contact with body fluids. It is not airborne.

There are issues like cruising or taking long flights where one could become symptomatic during the travel itself and I do feel there should be stricter guidelines for denying access in those areas. Maybe as we continue to manage the isolated cases in the U.S. successfully, the public will not live in fear and request volunteers to isolate themselves before they are even diagnosed. It is imperative that volunteers continue to fight this at the source to control the spread across oceans. Some volunteers are now staying in Europe for their 21 days; I only hope they don't have low levels of exposure and return here only to develop symptoms after that time (as 5% will do), or worse, become sick in Europe and receive inadequate isolation and treatment.

 

 

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[travler27]

Why do you say that?

 

If it is CCL that denies boarding, I doubt they would not offer options.

 

Read your ticket contract. Paragraph 17, (b), i

Edited October 31, 2014 by travler27

[shipsasailin]

I'm so glad to here Carnival is doing this. Who would knowingly want to expose others and argue with this decision.

Edited October 31, 2014 by shipsasailin

[travler27]

If it were me I would have invoked the vacation guaranty and let Carnival fly me to the nearest hospital.

 

Vacation guarantee has to be invoked in first 24 hours and provides transport back to your home or port of embarkation only. Nearest hospital is not included in the guarantee wording

[travler27]

I'm so glad to here Carnival is doing this. Who would knowingly want to expose others and argue with this decision.

 

Do you really think that someone who has been exposed to Ebola and was planning to board a cruise will now suddenly say "Whoa, they got a form. I better stay home now." :rolleyes:

[ccruisequeen]

I leave on a cruise tomorrow and I just got my email about an hour ago.

 

I never got one and I left last week. I wasn't notified about the itinerary change either.

 

Questionnaire dealt with symptoms, did you or anyone you know come back from Africa, etc.

 

 

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[EZ4]

We just got the letter for enhanced medical questionairre yesterday. Still a lot of wiggle room for people not to tell the truth - but I really don't see any other way to screen anyone unless they take temps of everyone boarding! (and by then all the people in the terminal have been exposed!) Hopefully everyone will self-monitor and use common sense- for ebola, or any other viruses that are out there.

 

They can take your temp while you're checking in, or anywhere in the terminal for that matter, and you may never even know it.

[pe4all]

They can take your temp while you're checking in, or anywhere in the terminal for that matter, and you may never even know it.

I am sure there is technology to scan people's body temps - like thermal imaging - but I don't think CCL will go that far - yet. Not against that idea at all. In fact, if people aren't going to care if they infect others, I am all for it!!

[travler27]

I wonder how they would determine what temp is acceptable as not everybody is normal at 98.6. Would they use a medically derived number or a politically derived number?

[DGP1111]

This is what the form looked like at my recent embarkation . . .

 

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[winddawn]

Medical science has proven that a potential ebola patient is not infectious until after they become sick themselves. At the present time, this nurse presents a threat to NO ONE.

 

Doctors Without Borders have been returning to America from ebola hotspots for the last 40 years and not one has infected another person.

 

I understand your fear, but you have more of a chance of catching the norovirus, enterovirus or the flu on a cruise ship than ebola.

 

As far as Carnival's questionnaire, has it ever stopped norovirus?

I disagree. I do not think there has been enough medical research to substantiate current claims. One recent research project states there is medical evidence that a 21 day incubation is not sufficient:

 

"In other words from 0.1 to 12% of the time, an individual case will have a greater incubation time than 21 days."

 

This medical researcher also states:

 

"It is suggested that a detailed cost-benefit assessment, including considering full transmission risks, needs to occur in order to determine the appropriate quarantine period for potentially exposed individuals."

 

You might gain a false sense of security by listening and repeating what you hear in the media, but that is no substitute for sound medical research. I think there are a lot of people making educated guesses about what to expect from Ebola, but the truth is there has been little Ebola research in the United States to substantiate such statements.

 

http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/on-the-quarantine-period-for-ebola-virus/#ref17

 

As far as norovirus is concerned, from my personal experience, I have taken 30 cruises and have never contracted norovirus. There are always infection risks associated with being around other people in public, but in the case of Ebola the expected death rate after contracting the disease is around 70%. Thus, when I consider the possibility of contracting norovirus might make me feel miserable for a few days, the risk of contracting Ebola carries much greater potential consequences. Your norovirus argument is thus like comparing apples to army tanks.

[travler27]

This is what the form looked like at my recent embarkation . . .

 

.

 

.

 

I'm not a lawyer.

 

It looks like the law quoted on the form (Title 18-1001) doesn't even prescribe a penalty for falsifying your answer on the form since the CDC is under the executive branch. Maybe someone who is an attorney will clarify. I don't even think it's an official government form. At least it doesn't have all the government form numbers at the bottom that have been on every official form I've ever seen.

 

This whole Ebola thing seems to be running on fear, panic, ignorance and political posturing with very little medical science involved. :rolleyes:

Edited October 31, 2014 by travler27

[Cruise4Music]

This whole Ebola thing seems to be running on fear, panic, ignorance and political posturing with very little medical science involved. :rolleyes:

 

You are so right.:)

 

Which is why there will be many more threads all about "fear, panic, ignorance and political posturing.:mad:

[lcp9984]

I sailed on 10/18 on Glory. Previous poster is correct. It takes longer to find a pen than to complete the form. Have one handy and you will be fine.....:)

[bruadhin]

Read your ticket contract. Paragraph 17, (b), i

 

That is a great way to ensure that people will NOT be truthful.

 

To ensure better compliance, the form should state that anyone denied boarding will be refunded their cruise fare and any other travel expenses not covered by an existing insurance policy.

 

Most people aren't aware of their cruise contract, but I remember when they were doing similar forms back in 2009. I also recall that there was no real health check, if you answered yes to anything you were denied, period. Word quickly got around that if you were denied boarding you would not receive a refund. I'm pretty sure almost none were answered honestly at that point.

[evandbob]

I disagree. I do not think there has been enough medical research to substantiate current claims. One recent research project states there is medical evidence that a 21 day incubation is not sufficient:

 

"In other words from 0.1 to 12% of the time, an individual case will have a greater incubation time than 21 days."

 

This medical researcher also states:

 

"It is suggested that a detailed cost-benefit assessment, including considering full transmission risks, needs to occur in order to determine the appropriate quarantine period for potentially exposed individuals."

 

You might gain a false sense of security by listening and repeating what you hear in the media, but that is no substitute for sound medical research. I think there are a lot of people making educated guesses about what to expect from Ebola, but the truth is there has been little Ebola research in the United States to substantiate such statements.

 

http://currents.plos.org/outbreaks/article/on-the-quarantine-period-for-ebola-virus/#ref17

 

As far as norovirus is concerned, from my personal experience, I have taken 30 cruises and have never contracted norovirus. There are always infection risks associated with being around other people in public, but in the case of Ebola the expected death rate after contracting the disease is around 70%. Thus, when I consider the possibility of contracting norovirus might make me feel miserable for a few days, the risk of contracting Ebola carries much greater potential consequences. Your norovirus argument is thus like comparing apples to army tanks.

 

I understand your fear, but quoting an unnamed source to counter the medical and scientific experience and research of the last 40 years by Doctors Without Borders, the most knowledgeable group of physicians on this disease, is pretty weak.

The enterovirus has killed more children in America than ebola, the flu will kill more Americans than ebola, and the norvirus will sicken hundreds of thousands more Americans than ebola.

 

BTW, unless you are poor and without health coverage, ebola in America has been a very treatable disease. Every infected American that has been treated for ebola in the USA has fully recovered. My point about nor was that a CCL questionnaire hasn't ever stopped nor outbreaks from occurring on a cruise ship, so the new questionnaire is just to make CCL look like they are doing something proactive for us passengers.

Edited October 31, 2014 by evandbob

[Cruise life]

There's another possible case in Oregon (woman travelled to affected area, has high fever, quarantined, not sure if confirmed). The reason there is so much continued discussion IMHO is because this is new in the states and we have no history of managing ebola here- not fear, panic, ignorance, etc - although some posters may feel that way. The death toll keeps rising in Africa; what if an area of our country became a "hot zone" so to speak? I know that is hypothetical, but not impossible. I do share what I hear and read in the news, and I expect others to do their own research and not believe everything they hear and read just as I do (and make their own final analysis given the current information).

 

 

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