Cruises reported more than 1,350 covid cases since June, CDC report reveals

[Fouremco]

In spite of the vaccination and testing requirements, other health and safety protocols, and the frequent comments on CC that cruise ships are probably the safest place to be these days, this Washington Post article based on CDC reporting indicates that there have been a lot more cases than CC posts might suggest.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/11/05/covid-cruise-cdc-positive-us/

[Dr. Cocktail]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

In spite of the vaccination and testing requirements, other health and safety protocols, and the frequent comments on CC that cruise ships are probably the safest place to be these days, this Washington Post article based on CDC reporting indicates that there have been a lot more cases than CC posts might suggest.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2021/11/05/covid-cruise-cdc-positive-us/

Um,  didn't you diss me on October 24 for suggesting that we really don't know what the situation is as there's no exit testing going on?

 

 

[lots-of-km2]

1 hour ago, Fouremco said:

this Washington Post article based on CDC reporting indicates that there have been a lot more cases than CC posts might suggest.

 

Interesting article -- thanks!

 

The > 1,350 cases were related to an estimated overall passenger count of 600,000 over a four month period. (The passenger count estimate was provided by a cruise industry lobby group).  

 

In the CDC's report (at https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/pdf/CDC-CSO-Extension-10-25-21-p.pdf ) , six large outbreaks were described, but none of the six ships were named. 

 

 

 

[Fouremco]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Cocktail said:

Um,  didn't you diss me on October 24 for suggesting that we really don't know what the situation is as there's no exit testing going on?

 

 

LOL. Diss? Not at all. I simply expressed a difference of opinion. You said that you felt that the CDC should be require post-cruise testing so they'd know what the situation is. I, on the other hand, said that I believe that the CDC has ample data to determine what's going on and to decide whether or not there's any need for such testing.

 

I think that the CDC report proves my point. They have a very good grasp of what is going on without resorting to post-cruise testing. While CC posts may not accurately reflect case numbers, CDC appears to be on top of it.

[DHP1]

That works out to be + or - 0.225% people got covid.

Edited November 6, 2021 by DHP1

[lots-of-km2]

6 minutes ago, DHP1 said:

That works out to be + or - 0.225% people got covid.

 Yep.  And I'm curious to know which of the cruise ships had problems -- whether many ships had small counts, or just a few ships had larger counts.  I wish the CDC would just list all the ships by name and numbers. 

Edited November 7, 2021 by lots-of-km2

[Fouremco]

12 minutes ago, lots-of-km2 said:

 Yep.  And I'm curious to know which of the cruise ships had problems -- whether many ships had small counts, or just a few ships had larger counts.  I wish the CDC would just list all the ships by name and numbers. 

I agree, I think we'd all like to know. I suspect that there is an agreement between the CDC and the cruise lines, no published cruise line details in exchange for full and frank reporting. In the meantime, CDC's colour coding does give some indication of potential problems.

[broberts]

In a recent thread, someone just off a Celebrity ship reported 3 cases on their voyage.

 

While the numbers are relatively low, for those of us with very high risk home situations cruising is still contraindicated. ☹️

[K_e_short]

I know that the Carnival Vista had an outbreak and another Carnival ship was the one where the woman died (Covid onboard, sent to a Belize hospital, died in the U.S.).

 

I also remember reading a Celebrity ship also have a huge outbreak but can't remember the details.

 

 

[DirtyDawg]

12 hours ago, DHP1 said:

That works out to be + or - 0.225% people got covid.

It would be interesting to see how this compares to the incidence rate in the general public for people who are 95% - 100% fully vaccinated, with similar demographics. That would give us a relative risk measure for cruising vs. daily life. Is cruising 2x more risky, 10x more risky?

[K_e_short]

19 minutes ago, DirtyDawg said:

It would be interesting to see how this compares to the incidence rate in the general public for people who are 95% - 100% fully vaccinated, with similar demographics. That would give us a relative risk measure for cruising vs. daily life. Is cruising 2x more risky, 10x more risky?

 

Totally agree. I'm not a mathematician but I'm sure Covid has driven some of them crazy with how we use statistics to prove a point, or not prove a point 🙂

 

 

[lx200gps]

Unless I'm mistaken, this 1350 number is probably very low compared to the actual number of positive cases on US-based ships.  It's based on sailings out of the US, where more than likely, a sizeable majority of passengers are American. Virtually all (but not 100%) are fully vaccinated. AFAIK, Americans  do not require any testing to travel home post-cruise, even to fly commercially so would have no need to be tested post-cruise. Being fully vaccinated, if actually COVID positive, they would more than likely be symptom free and not know they are positive, so would simply get of the ship not requiring follow-on testing and the CDC would not know about them. Unfortunately, being Positive and not knowing it, they would still be contagious while on the ship and pose a risk to other passengers.

 

That being said, a few points come to mind. Per the CDC web site Color Coding System, only a few cruise lines (Carnival and RCCL primarily) seem to be responsible for more than their share of cases, and some lines like Celebrity and Princess, while still having cases, seem much safer. The other is a comment from Youtuber Don from Ottawa from  one of his videos (my wife's a fan ;o)  He claimed that despite the worryingly high number of cases going public, 75% of all cruise ships have zero cases

[lots-of-km2]

5 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

It would be interesting to see how this compares to the incidence rate in the general public for people who are 95% - 100% fully vaccinated, with similar demographics. That would give us a relative risk measure for cruising vs. daily life. Is cruising 2x more risky, 10x more risky?

 Johns Hopkins University has the raw data for incidence rates for almost every country on earth:

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/dashboards/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

[cdn_tbird]

For those interested here is the link to the CDC Cruise Ship Status site: Cruise Ship Color Status | Quarantine | CDC. All X ships are showing green. RCCL has 2 orange & 2 yellow.

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

How many of us got sick before Covid while on vacation 🤔

I can think of atleast 4 times , the last time was on our last cruise in Sept/Oct 2019 on constellation,b2b, Athens to Rome to Miami 

a lot people had colds at the start of the cruise in Athens, I got when we got to Rome, and than the wife got after that

i know I will wear a n95 when I got on a plane again hopefully in April 😁

[Fouremco]

4 hours ago, Airbalancer said:

How many of us got sick before Covid while on vacation 🤔

I can think of atleast 4 times , the last time was on our last cruise in Sept/Oct 2019 on constellation,b2b, Athens to Rome to Miami 

a lot people had colds at the start of the cruise in Athens, I got when we got to Rome, and than the wife got after that

i know I will wear a n95 when I got on a plane again hopefully in April 😁

As we have minimal exposure in our day-to-day lives, DW and I have been satisfied with our multi-layer cloth masks. Like you, however,  for any flight, time in airports, etc., we'll be wearing N95 masks. If you haven't purchased yours yet, you might want to look at this article:  https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mask-filtration-standards-marketplace-1.5974442

 

It's a bit dated, and not all of the masks are still available at the same locations, but I've been able to track down a couple of the better rated masks.

[CalgaryMac]

This web site provides some information related to cruise ships and COVID.  It is from the CDC

 

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

[1kaper]

On 11/6/2021 at 8:56 PM, DHP1 said:

That works out to be + or - 0.225% people got covid.

I can't read the article because of the paywall but I did read about this on another board.  Someone mentioned it is not clear whether employees are included or not.  If it does include employees, that would be even smaller. 

[CalgaryMac]

On 11/6/2021 at 7:45 PM, broberts said:

In a recent thread, someone just off a Celebrity ship reported 3 cases on their voyage.

 

While the numbers are relatively low, for those of us with very high risk home situations cruising is still contraindicated. ☹️

I agree. Despite the efforts that the cruise lines are doing it appears that the virus is good at sneaking around the obstacles. We have a cruise planned in a year but are now considering cancelling as we are concerned about the risks that seem there no matter what precautions we all take. It seems that new variants are developing and the COVID waves are becoming a regular thing. I don't know if I want to gamble that nothing happens and if it does that recovery is uneventful.