What do you do to reduce onboard illness?

[CDNPolar]

16 hours ago, ZsaZsa2019 said:

On average, about how many people on a cruise are masking up?  We travel a fair amount (mostly Disney lately) and have just recently given up wearing masks on planes (no longer at Disney either).  I'll be bringing masks with on our cruise, just curious how common it is.  I know people that cruise a couple times a year and always come home sick,even before Covid was a thing.

 

We were on a Europe river cruise December / January and when we boarded one or two people were actively coughing all day...  A few people were masked.

 

By the end of the cruise, at least 1/4 to 1/3 of the guests were coughing and most of these were wearing masks.

 

I am a believer that masks should be worn when you have symptoms to help prevent spread and are not as great at prevention, because not everything is airborne and some is picked up by touching surfaces and then hand to face contact.

 

We always travel with masks but don't always wear them.  I was one of the lucky one that got sick on this cruise and as soon as my first symptom happened, I wore the mask except when eating.

[Hlitner]

More than 1 in 4 Americans suffer from various anxiety issues and plenty of that is related to worry about things like germs, getting sick, etc.  A physician friend of mine once joked (but it was not a joke) that plenty of folks get sick from simply worrying about being sick.  I still love that old song, "Don't Worry, be Happy."

 

Risk is simply part of life and cannot be avoided.  A lot of anxiety can be avoided by simply getting on with one's life, having fun, and letting others do the worrying.

 

Hank

[BruceMuzz]

My colleagues at USPH warn that the best places to become infected with a virus on a mass market cruise ship are the Buffets and the Public Toilets.

People raised by wolves who sail on mass market ships love to taste things on the buffet and then put them back, drop utensils on the floor and put them back, pick up things with their hands, lick serving utensils, etc.

People with GI problems on mass market ships do not want to mess up the toilets in their cabins. Instead, they visit a public toilet and leave the mess in there. They manage to contaminate that space for the next user.