Question on Viking COVID cases

[rbslos18]

Is anything known about the Viking 2 COVID cases that can help others in their travel? Given the fact they tested positive on day 4 or 5,  presumably the two people got infected either at an airport or on a plane. Do we know if it was their mask or removing their mask to eat? Did they have compromised immune systems?

 

I feel terrible for the two people and clearly what happened is a fluke. Are there any preventative measures the rest of us should take beside wearing a good mask and minimizing its removal?

RB

Edited July 21, 2021 by rbslos18

[TayanaLorna]

Unless the people who tested positive are forthcoming with their story, no one will know their pre cruise protocol, masking compliance or morbidity issues.  We are on Sky July 17 cruise and chose to isolate ourselves for one week before cruise, wore masks in public for the months before our cruise, double masked in airports and on planes and only took our masks off to eat in airports far away from other people and never removed them on the planes.  People are being really good wearing masks on our cruise although the Captain does make reminder announcements.

[rbslos18]

1 hour ago, TayanaLorna said:

Unless the people who tested positive are forthcoming with their story, no one will know their pre cruise protocol, masking compliance or morbidity issues.  We are on Sky July 17 cruise and chose to isolate ourselves for one week before cruise, wore masks in public for the months before our cruise, double masked in airports and on planes and only took our masks off to eat in airports far away from other people and never removed them on the planes.  People are being really good wearing masks on our cruise although the Captain does make reminder announcements.

All good advice. We will likely quarantine 10 days. The challenge will be the airport and the flight overseas. We are looking for flights that just have seats for 2 together in Economy Premium. Since masks are readily available we will likely us N95 masks for the travel part. I know of several people who have vaccinated children who have caught the Delta variant. In most cases the illness is mild but even an asymptomatic case is a very serious problem on a cruise.

Enjoy your cruise!!

[WanderingBrit]

We are currently in our own self-imposed quarantine prior to our flights on August 3rd, using curbside pickup only for groceries and such, and we will be rigorously masked during travel.

 

I don't know what else we can, and it's what my physician friends have done for over a year successfully.

[Triptkr]

9 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

Is anything known about the Viking 2 COVID cases that can help others in their travel?

For clarification purposes; which 2 Viking COVID cases are you referring to exactly?  ie: which ship(s)

[bluesea777]

5 minutes ago, Triptkr said:

For clarification purposes; which 2 Viking COVID cases are you referring to exactly?  ie: which ship(s)

 

One on July 10-17 Sky on day 4 of the cruise. Other on July 13-20 Jupiter on day 3.

 

 

 

[Triptkr]

6 minutes ago, bluesea777 said:

 

One on July 10-17 Sky on day 4 of the cruise. Other on July 13-20 Jupiter on day 3.

 

 

 

Alright, that's what I wondered.  I wasn't sure if the one on Jupiter was ever officially confirmed as a positive COVID case.   If that is correct then there's actually been a total of 3...there was one on the Viking Orion back on the June 15th Bermuda sailing.  That one was also found on day 4.

[Retired2016Cruiser]

3 hours ago, bluesea777 said:

 

One on July 10-17 Sky on day 4 of the cruise. Other on July 13-20 Jupiter on day 3.

 

 

 

I thought I read the Jupiter case was suspected only,not confirmed. I’d be interested to hear about any confirmation. 

[kate7047]

2 hours ago, Retired2016Cruiser said:

I thought I read the Jupiter case was suspected only,not confirmed. I’d be interested to hear about any confirmation. 

I think that’s a fair assumption, though there was no official word. Personally, I assume this based on the “fuss” the Sky case produced with the Icelandic authorities in contrast to the lack of fuss on the Jupiter. (My personal suspicion is that the Jupiter case was a false positive.) There was comment that the Sky passenger was asymptomatic and it can be assumed was fully vaccinated per Norwegian and Icelandic requirements to be on the ship.

[rbslos18]

My hope was to learn from what went wrong. Clearly these are rare cases, less than 1% of the Viking travelers. Since everyone on planes is masked, my assumption is the individuals got COVID at the airport. With N95 and KN95 masks easily available online,  it seems prudent to wear one. There are also masks that Dr. Any Slavitt  promotes on his excellent podcast, In the Bubble. https://livinguard.com/products/

Edited July 22, 2021 by rbslos18

[bluesea777]

3 hours ago, rbslos18 said:

My hope was to learn from what went wrong. Clearly these are rare cases, less than 1% of the Viking travelers. Since everyone on planes is masked, my assumption is the individuals got COVID at the airport. With N95 and KN95 masks easily available online,  it seems prudent to wear one. There are also masks that Dr. Any Slavitt  promotes on his excellent podcast, In the Bubble. https://livinguard.com/products/

 

Or during the period between their pre-departure test and the airport.

 

Incubation period is 4-14 days.

 

Don't ever let your guard down after you have been tested - or for at least 2 weeks before your travel.

 

A poster somewhere in one of the threads did say it was a positive result and they sectioned off part of hallway on her deck for a bit while the person was being transferred to their isolation stateroom.

 

[rbslos18]

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

 

Or during the period between their pre-departure test and the airport.

 

Incubation period is 4-14 days.

 

Don't ever let your guard down after you have been tested - or for at least 2 weeks before your travel.

 

A poster somewhere in one of the threads did say it was a positive result and they sectioned off part of hallway on her deck for a bit while the person was being transferred to their isolation stateroom.

 

Excellent point. Thanks

[kleibo]

In this data - are they showing that more people that are vaccinated are getting infected than not.

 

https://www.covid.is/data     Number of vaccinated individuals among domestic infections

 

Seems opposite to what I've been reading in the states

[Twitchly]

1 hour ago, kleibo said:

In this data - are they showing that more people that are vaccinated are getting infected than not.

 

https://www.covid.is/data     Number of vaccinated individuals among domestic infections

 

Seems opposite to what I've been reading in the states

I didn’t comb through that data, but maybe this is what you’re seeing: The more people who get vaccinated, the higher the percentage of vaccinated people who test positive. That’s just statistics. If 100% of the population is vaccinated, then 100% of all positive cases will be among vaccinated people. 
 

I believe Iceland has a higher percentage of vaccinated people than the US. 
 

Personally, I’m much more interested in the hospitalization rate among vaccinated people. So far, that’s wonderfully tiny.

[Tom.in.nc]

On 7/22/2021 at 1:52 PM, Twitchly said:

The more people who get vaccinated, the higher the percentage of vaccinated people who test positive. That’s just statistics. If 100% of the population is vaccinated, then 100% of all positive cases will be among vaccinated people. 

Right, and if I read that information correctly, only 4 hospitalizations in the last 14 days.

[Doc who loves to travel]

On 7/21/2021 at 7:57 PM, Retired2016Cruiser said:

I thought I read the Jupiter case was suspected only,not confirmed. I’d be interested to hear about any confirmation. 

The Jupiter case was confirmed not a false positive. https://www.luxurytraveldocs.com/2021/07/how-we-dealt-with-covid-19-and-contact.html

[Triptkr]

5 minutes ago, Doc who loves to travel said:

The Jupiter case was confirmed not a false positive. https://www.luxurytraveldocs.com/2021/07/how-we-dealt-with-covid-19-and-contact.html

I just read your blog link that you provided.  I just want to clarify something you wrote...

 

According to Viking Jupiter staff fewer than 10 passengers were quarantined for the last 5 days of the cruise due to contact tracing, and guest services went out of their way to make those quarantined in their cabins comfortable.

 

What?????!    So, one person tested positive.  That one person had to be quarantined.  The 10 people that spent adequate time (contact tracing) around the positive person had to be quarantined for 5 days???  Did those 10 people test positive?   I don't know why but I've assumed that if you getting 'pinged' via the contact tracer because someone tested positive, that Viking would test you a couple times to make sure you were negative and let you go free after that.   

 

Am I reading and understanding this correctly?

[Staffordshirecruiser]

Trptkr, I am also a little disturbed about this on behalf of uk passengers. We set sail mid Aug, and although many of us are self isolating beforehand, we are likely to be within a certain proximity of other guests during excursions if nothing else.  

[LindaS272]

1 hour ago, Triptkr said:

I just read your blog link that you provided.  I just want to clarify something you wrote...

 

According to Viking Jupiter staff fewer than 10 passengers were quarantined for the last 5 days of the cruise due to contact tracing, and guest services went out of their way to make those quarantined in their cabins comfortable.

 

What?????!    So, one person tested positive.  That one person had to be quarantined.  The 10 people that spent adequate time (contact tracing) around the positive person had to be quarantined for 5 days???  Did those 10 people test positive?   I don't know why but I've assumed that if you getting 'pinged' via the contact tracer because someone tested positive, that Viking would test you a couple times to make sure you were negative and let you go free after that.   

 

Am I reading and understanding this correctly?

Wow! This is really alarming, if true!!! I don’t mean to impugn the veracity, but would sure like confirmation from Viking about what happened! I agree with you, doc, that Viking needs to be more transparent with what arrangements vis-a-vis Covid that they have in the countries in which they’re traveling.

Edited July 27, 2021 by LindaS272

[schnapperin]

Not traveling on the Viking but was flying to Iceland during the spike in European cases this spring with a 8 hour trip.

 

I didn‘t remove my FFP2 mask at all apart from a bit to drink outside the airport, a change of a mask after four hours. Nothing to drink or eat on the plane or removal of the mask.

 

for the quarantine bit it’s pretty common around Europe that close contact needs to stay on quarantine a couple of days since it takes time until a test comes back positive- on other cruise ships this was done on land and for 10 or 14 days depending on local regulations.

 

also if you test positive in Iceland it’s a 14 day isolation period or if you show symptoms it’s 7 days after there are no symptoms

[Doc who loves to travel]

6 hours ago, Triptkr said:

I just read your blog link that you provided.  I just want to clarify something you wrote...

 

According to Viking Jupiter staff fewer than 10 passengers were quarantined for the last 5 days of the cruise due to contact tracing, and guest services went out of their way to make those quarantined in their cabins comfortable.

 

What?????!    So, one person tested positive.  That one person had to be quarantined.  The 10 people that spent adequate time (contact tracing) around the positive person had to be quarantined for 5 days???  Did those 10 people test positive?   I don't know why but I've assumed that if you getting 'pinged' via the contact tracer because someone tested positive, that Viking would test you a couple times to make sure you were negative and let you go free after that.   

 

Am I reading and understanding this correctly?

Viking has not been very transparent about how they are using the contact tracing data.  On another thread one person on July 13 Jupiter cruise only had to stay in their cabin for 1 hour due to contact tracing and not 5 days.  I don't think the one hour person knew where their contact occurred (like others on a bus for example).  I do not know if any others tested positive. I know at least 2 did not.