Not good news

[KirkNC]

https://news.google.com/s/CBIwpeG4hSg?sceid=US:en
 

 

[clo]

😞 Well, I guess we know what the CDC is going to say/do.

[woldridge]

They are retesting with negative tests indicating false positive test results.  Story is unfolding right now as not all the testing is completed.

 

 

[clo]

18 minutes ago, woldridge said:

They are retesting with negative tests indicating false positive test results.  Story is unfolding right now as not all the testing is completed.

 

 

True. And that could be an ongoing problem. Say they test passengers as negative and then later they test positive or actually get sick.  Not a good sign.

[ATC cruiser]

Anybody think their November cruise is still looking good, asking for a friend

 

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, woldridge said:

They are retesting with negative tests indicating false positive test results.  Story is unfolding right now as not all the testing is completed.

 

 

According to at least some reports the initial second round of tests was done onboard and were of the rapid type that is known to be less accurate so it's more likely that the retests were false negatives than the initial tests being false positives. They need to wait for the results of the retests come back from an outside lab to see what's really going on.

[cruisemom42]

16 minutes ago, njhorseman said:

According to at least some reports the initial second round of tests was done onboard and were of the rapid type that is known to be less accurate so it's more likely that the retests were false negatives than the initial tests being false positives. They need to wait for the results of the retests come back from an outside lab to see what's really going on.

 

Agreed. Certainly bears watching.

 

 

 

[Tapi]

I think that this is a necessary evil. One of the questions that has been in everybody’s mind is “what happens if someone tests positive while on a cruise?”. Hopefully this situation will provide some clarity about what will happen, and what the cruise line’s response will be. If this is handled in a satisfactory manner, it will hopefully boost confidence in the cruise line’s ability to resume cruising safely. 

[clo]

1 minute ago, Tapi said:

I think that this is a necessary evil. One of the questions that has been in everybody’s mind is “what happens if someone tests positive while on a cruise?”. Hopefully this situation will provide some clarity about what will happen, and what the cruise line’s response will be. If this is handled in a satisfactory manner, it will hopefully boost confidence in the cruise line’s ability to resume cruising safely. 

I agree with you and/but will ask what would be an example of "a satisfactory manner"? This seems SO complicated.

[Toofarfromthesea]

How do Tui's protocols compare to MSC's.

[Tapi]

14 minutes ago, clo said:

what would be an example of "a satisfactory manner"? 

Not a repeat of the Diamond Princess. Hopefully procedures will be in place to quickly identify infected passengers and those who were exposed (using tracing). The infrastructure will be in place to isolate and quarantine infected passengers, and agreements will be in place with ports where these passengers can be transferred to a medical facility without impacting others. The main thing will be to prevent a nightmare situation where a ship is denied from returning to port and not wander aimlessly at sea while passengers continue cross infecting each other. 

[clo]

1 hour ago, Tapi said:

The main thing will be to prevent a nightmare situation where a ship is denied from returning to port and not wander aimlessly at sea while passengers continue cross infecting each other. 

And having to depend on other nations to allow them in.

[Roz]

Not everyone who tests positive needs to be transferred to a medical facility.  In fact this would be most people who test positive.

[Covepointcruiser]

I thought all of the passengers were from  one or a few select countries in Europe so repatriation won’t be a problem.

 

This is at least the second time there has been a positive COVID test aboard a cruise ship since they began sailing in August.   No reason to get super excited about this as long as they have procedures in place to handle positive cases.

[Nic6318]

31 minutes ago, Roz said:

Not everyone who tests positive needs to be transferred to a medical facility.  In fact this would be most people who test positive.

 

Hi

True, but they do need to quarantine.

 

How long, where, etc., responses to these issues are going to be determined by each country involved. Infected crew members can't just be sent home, any more than the passengers. That is one of the major problems with large crowds and asymptomatic individuals carrying the virus. 

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, ATC cruiser said:

Anybody think their November cruise is still looking good, asking for a friend

 

 

No offense meant, but my reaction to your friend's potential cruise follows:😆

 

 

[iancal]

I believe this was inevitable.  Only a question of time.

 

I think that the cruise lines are doing themselves a major disservice by starting up too early and before a vaccine is available. 

 

 This is very bad PR for the industry-especially when it follows the Hurtigruten fiasco.

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, iancal said:

I believe this was inevitable.  Only a question of time.

 

I think that the cruise lines are doing themselves a major disservice by starting up too early and before a vaccine is available. 

 

 This is very bad PR for the industry-especially when it follows the Hurtigruten fiasco.

The hard question is when will it be the right time to start.

[Toofarfromthesea]

Aaaaaand the premise of this whole thread falls apart:

 

On Monday, Greek authorities said 12 crew members of a Maltese-flagged cruise ship on a Greek island tour with more than 1,500 people on board had tested positive for the coronavirus and have been isolated on board The Mein Schiff 6, operated by TUI Cruises.

But by Tuesday afternoon, all 12 crew had tested negative three times — with a PCR test administered by the cruise line and again with a rapid antigen test conducted by Greek authorities and once more with a PCR test given by Greek authorities– indicating that the negative test may have been a false positive.

The cruise line called the situation a "false alarm" and said there are not any cases of COVID-19 on board Mein Schiff 6, as confirmed by Greek Authorities Tuesday, the line said in a release provided by Godja Sönnichsen, director of communications for TUI

 

 

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/09/28/covid-19-tui-cruise-12-crew-members-test-positive/3559971001/

 

You would think by now people would realize you have to wait a bit before believing early reports.

I have a feeling that if the CDC allows cruising, and nothing terrible happens, some folks here will be devestated.

Edited September 29, 2020 by Toofarfromthesea

[KnowTheScore]

22 hours ago, Tapi said:

Not a repeat of the Diamond Princess. Hopefully procedures will be in place to quickly identify infected passengers and those who were exposed (using tracing). The infrastructure will be in place to isolate and quarantine infected passengers, and agreements will be in place with ports where these passengers can be transferred to a medical facility without impacting others.

 

This is simply wishful thinking.   The problem here is that unless you test EVERY passenger and EVERY crew member EVERY DAY of the voyage then Covid cases on-board will spread.   If you wait until someone shows symptoms and then test them then you will have missed up to 5 days or more of that person spreading the virus around.  With 80% of Covid cases have absolutely no symptoms at all then the frequency of testing is of paramount importance.       Quarantining an infected person clearly needs to happen but by then it's likely far too late and that person or persons will have already been spreading the virus to others.

 

There's just no answer to this unless you are constantly testing all passengers and crew every 5 mins which leads to a pretty horrible experience on-board.   There's only so much throat and nasal swabbing that people will endure imo.

 

I would be very surprised if there are not further cases appearing in this current situation.

 

There is presumably some magic number that the cruise lines have been given which changes their protocols from simply isolating the Covid positive people to quarantining every passenger on the ship ala Diamond Princess.

 

I'm sorry but just now this whole thing is a non starter.   Passengers have simply become cattle to be poked and prodded and constantly tested and pushed around if they get Covid.   add to that the constant need for mask wearing when walking around the ship and doing activities, being forced to take ship excursions if you want to get off and god knows what other inconveniences that they haven't yet told us about and for me that is not a holiday.  It's something else and most certainly not a cruise in my book.    

 

Cruising remains totally dead imo and will stay that way until the virus is treated like Norovirus.

 

Edited September 29, 2020 by KnowTheScore

[pc_load_letter]

I think it's safe to say that if this is any indication, testing cannot be trusted.

 

My employer will run tests on students, if the first comes back positive, they run a second. If that comes back negative, guess what...the tally goes to "probable infection". What the hell?

[Host Jazzbeau]

New article on Cruise Critic:

Double Testing Catches False Positives: Why You Shouldn't Panic Over COVID-19 Test Result News

[ilikeanswers]

On 9/29/2020 at 4:37 AM, Tapi said:

I think that this is a necessary evil. One of the questions that has been in everybody’s mind is “what happens if someone tests positive while on a cruise?”. Hopefully this situation will provide some clarity about what will happen, and what the cruise line’s response will be. If this is handled in a satisfactory manner, it will hopefully boost confidence in the cruise line’s ability to resume cruising safely. 

 

You are right this is like a test case on that feared scenario of what happens if someone tests positive. So this will be interesting to see how this unfolds🤔

[rkacruiser]

6 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

New article on Cruise Critic:

Double Testing Catches False Positives: Why You Shouldn't Panic Over COVID-19 Test Result News

 

Thanks for posting this news.  I agree with its message.  What is needed--and what the hospitality/travel/cruise industry cannot provide--is a much more reliable test for Covid-19 than now exists.  

 

 

[CruiserBruce]

We don't know why those 12 came back false positive. Until we know if it was operator error, test malfunction or failure, or other cause, we should hold back from jumping to any conclusions that tests aren't reliable or trustworthy. The cause of these false positives could easily be human error, which can be improved with training or procedure changes.