What's considered a "close contact"?

[colesc15]

Does anyone have any idea what Royal considers a close contact to require you to get tested and all that? It it someone you were sitting by for 5 minutes, someone you just walked past somewhere indoors? Or is this a mystery like some other stuff. 

[adidas5676]

Likely another one of those ever-changing definitions, but for me personally I'd consider close contact as anyone within 15 feet of me- masked or not.🤷‍♀️

[BND]

This is the latest copied directly from the CDC.  

For COVID-19, a close contact is anyone who was within 6 feet of an infected person for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period (for example, three individual 5-minute exposures for a total of 15 minutes). An infected person can spread COVID-19 starting from 2 days before they have any symptoms (or, if they are asymptomatic, 2 days before their specimen that tested positive was collected), until they meet the criteria for discontinuing home isolation.

I have COVID-19. How do I tell the people I was around?

Does mask use help determine if someone is considered a close contact?

If I am a close contact, will I be tested for COVID-19?

[cruisebot21]

When the ship security officer followed up with me, any area that I was in for 15min or longer seemed to be of interest.

Walking through a venue wasn’t an issue.

20 min in a hot tub was.

of course, that could change at any point

[Painter4me]

So if someone at the table next to you in a restaurant tests positive, you’re quarantined in your cabin? 

[A&L_Ont]

7 minutes ago, Painter4me said:

So if someone at the table next to you in a restaurant tests positive, you’re quarantined in your cabin? 

Until your negative test comes back would be my understanding.

[Painter4me]

On 12/31/2021 at 1:19 PM, A&L_Ont said:

Until your negative test comes back would be my understanding.

That totally sucks.  They need to space the table farther than 6’ apart then.  

[neverbeenhere]

Think of it as a not so unique experience. You’re going to tell everyone you know and a bunch you don’t know about it 109 times until they walk the other way at the grocery store. 

[moonltnite]

I know the MDR "vaccinated level" on many ships have tables nearly elbow to elbow.  When I saw that 3 months ago, I booked specialty restaurants for us for every night.  Some photos I've seen (we'll be on the Oasis in March) seem to show tables better spaced in the specialty restaurants.  

 

Their policy of vaccinated vs non-vaccinated areas doesn't really have practical application now, since Omicron can be caught regardless of vaccination status.  I can vouch for that, as my husband and I caught Covid from my brother on Christmas Eve (he was sick - but didn't tell any of us and didn't get tested prior to coming to our house).  We are both full vaccinated and boosted, but Omicron causes a lot of breakthrough cases.  Our boosters from 2 1/2 months prior had really low efficacy against Omicron (something like 30-35% after a couple months).  Our symptoms were just like bad colds and we have been isolating and recovering at home. Luckily, we both work from home right now (him permanently - me temporarily during Covid).  

 

I'm hoping they keep the specialty restaurant tables well spaced.  Most of our reservations are for 5:30pm when they first open.  

 

[crewsweeper]

So if someone is discovered with COVID while on Board, the dining staff goes around find  to everyone at all the surrounding tables and has them get tested?   That might work at MDR for dinner, but can't see it working in the Windjammer or specialty restaurants.  

 

Sorta like our HR sending notices that someone in the building tested positive and was last in the building 6 days ago.  Don't say who or what floor or which end of the building, but advise you to get tested.

[orville99]

30 minutes ago, moonltnite said:

I'm hoping they keep the specialty restaurant tables well spaced.  Most of our reservations are for 5:30pm when they first open.  

Since the restart, we’ve only eaten at specialty restaurants where we can get outside seating in Central Park. The inside seating on our last four cruises did not appear to have spaced out their indoor tables at all.

[moonltnite]

20 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

So if someone is discovered with COVID while on Board, the dining staff goes around find  to everyone at all the surrounding tables and has them get tested?   That might work at MDR for dinner, but can't see it working in the Windjammer or specialty restaurants.  

 

Sorta like our HR sending notices that someone in the building tested positive and was last in the building 6 days ago.  Don't say who or what floor or which end of the building, but advise you to get tested.

 

It makes me wonder just what they ARE doing as far as determining close contacts.  They would have the data on what people's table numbers were (most restaurants have that) at the specialty restaurants (like 150 Central Park, Giovanni's, etc. - but not at places like Windjammer) and I suppose they could then contact people at the tables surrounding the table where a passenger ended up testing positive.  But it sure seems like that would end up being a LOT of people they'd have to test.  They'd have to go back a couple days from when the passenger tested positive - and then contact all the passengers at every surrounding table at the specialty restaurants (or MDR) to that passenger's table.  They wouldn't be able to know who was next to them at bars/lounges.  They'd know who else had paid receipts from the same date and time.  But it'd be a crazy number of people.  They wouldn't be able to identify close contacts from shows.  They wouldn't know who sat by him/her.  

 

The only practical thing I could see RC do is to contact fellow travelers (passengers that are traveling with the infected passenger - whether in the same cabin or another res tied to theirs.  It really would be nuts to try to really test all possible close contacts - and making all those people quarantine 24 hours and then retest would be obnoxious. 

[PolytheneGirl]

20 hours ago, crewsweeper said:

So if someone is discovered with COVID while on Board, the dining staff goes around find  to everyone at all the surrounding tables and has them get tested?   That might work at MDR for dinner, but can't see it working in the Windjammer or specialty restaurants.  

 

Sorta like our HR sending notices that someone in the building tested positive and was last in the building 6 days ago.  Don't say who or what floor or which end of the building, but advise you to get tested.

 

I believe they use CCTV in the public areas to determine who is close contacts (i.e. who was at the table next door, etc) for track and trace but I'm not 100% sure

[later]

56 minutes ago, PolytheneGirl said:

 

I believe they use CCTV in the public areas to determine who is close contacts (i.e. who was at the table next door, etc) for track and trace but I'm not 100% sure

Yes several ships use facial recognition and have almost all common areas covered by cameras including the hallways.

[DevonfromAcme]

 

They may have used contact tracing a couple of weeks ago if someone tested positive, but considering the stories out now where people sharing the same cabin as someone with Covid aren't tested, I'd be shocked if any of it is happening now.

[bucfan2]

On 12/29/2021 at 6:53 PM, adidas5676 said:

Likely another one of those ever-changing definitions, but for me personally I'd consider close contact as anyone within 15 feet of me- masked or not.🤷‍♀️

As BND posted below, 6' for 15min or longer is what the CDC originally dreamt up.  Then, of course, common sense (or lack thereof) was applied....some came up w/ 15' , others decided if they around someone in the same state, it was dangerous.

Then, vaxxed afraid to be around unvaxxed because....oh wait...back to lack thereof.

CDC doesn't need to dream up any more guidance...we will do that for them.

Edited January 6, 2022 by bucfan2