Nova virus

[chrism23]

The article below was prominently printed yesterday in the New York Post.  It says that 31.people are ill with a virus that is causing diarrhea and have been quarantined on the Nova.  Not being an MD I am reluctant to guess the cause.  At first glance it looks like a classic Norovirus but the article does not mention vomiting which is usually part of a Norovirus-which is spread primarily by touch or contact with objects, these are called, fomites, There is no need to say that SS should be implementing strict had washing protocols which it had partly in place during early COVID, when you couldn't enter a restaurant without getting spritzed. (and wash your hands as much as possible).  Good luck.  

 

 

 

https://nypost.com/2024/04/16/us-news/nearly-30-silverseas-cruise-passengers-fall-ill-with-diarrhea-at-sea/

Edited April 17 by chrism23
typo

[drron29]

On the Muse in the last 30 days sanitizer has been prominently displayed at each restaurant and when boarding. The importance was also mentioned in some of the on board announcements.

[spinnaker2]

When we were on the Dawn a few weeks back most pax ignored all of the sanitizers and the hand washing stations in La T. No effort from crew to direct pax to wash up. 

This is in sharp contrast to the cruises immediately post Covid when pax were directed to wash hands. 

 

[jollyjones]

There certainly has been an outbreak of something on the Nova - described by Captain Failla as 'gastrointestinal illness' - which SS is taking very seriously. They probably think it's noro because the advice given to us yesterday at embarkation has a very strong emphasis on hand washing with the suggestion that hand sanitiser is ineffective. 

**I do wish pax would remember that high alcohol hand sanitiser may work against corona virus but does not work against norovirus.**

Boarding started at 1pm which was earlier than I expected, but much of the ship was closed and sealed off for cleaning, which they clearly were doing very thoroughly. We were not able to access the cabins till 4.45pm - this became very tedious but entirely understandable. Made more tedious by the fact that the still-like-new carpet pile is so thick it's quite difficult to haul your carry on wheelie bag around - silly but true!

So I didn't do as much exploring yesterday as I'd hoped - that's now the plan for today, a sea day, and I shall be keeping an eye out to see what infection controls are in place.

 

 

[Invited On-board]

The article  in the link from the OP  also notes that Holland  America  and Cunard  ( Queen Victoria) have suffered from similar   outbreaks also this year 

[jollyjones]

Everywhere - schools, care homes, restaurants, hospitals etc etc - suffer from norovirus outbreaks, particularly in the winter. 
Cruise ships are obliged to report outbreaks when they rise above a certain percentage of pax or crew so they appear more in the news.
Clickbait. 

[agape01]

I would be on the Nova for the Vancouver to Tokyo TP crossing in September later this year. It sounds like in order to be fully sanitary, I would have to wear disposable gloves when I am out on deck. 

Jokes aside, I would have to say that everyone has to do their part to wash hands frequently to prevent norovirus outbreaks.

[Archipelago]

This was the cruise that I would have disembarked yesterday . So I guess there was a silver lining to the Blacklane debacle . 

[FauxNom]

I hate to tell tales, but there was a massive outbreak of gastroenteritis on the Cloud in late March, Walvis Bay to Port Elizabeth. We were not told of a precise diagnosis, though it did take you out for 1-3 days, and usually responded to antibiotics. Rumor was that AGE is rampant in Cape Town, where many about-to-embark passengers had spent time before coming on board in Walvis Bay.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, FauxNom said:

Rumor was that AGE is rampant in Cape Town

The Google wasn't able to help me.  Other than the condition that gets worse with every birthday, what does AGE stand for?

[Desperate to Sail]

53 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

The Google wasn't able to help me.  Other than the condition that gets worse with every birthday, what does AGE stand for?

 

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/pub/age-2006-2019.htm

[FauxNom]

6 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

The Google wasn't able to help me.  Other than the condition that gets worse with every birthday, what does AGE stand for?

Getting old? It was in the letter we received and I believe it stands for acute gastroenteritis 

 

[jpalbny]

The abbreviations and acronyms in the medical profession drive me nuts. The kids these days make complicated descriptions out of everything, but then turn them into garbled acronyms. A simple concept like heart failure, which can be systolic or diastolic, has morphed into "Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction" or with "Reduced Ejection Fraction" which they write HF-pEF or HF-rEF.

 

But they say "heff-peff" or "heff-reff" which sounds so silly. And since they can only speak in this weird new language, they can't explain things to patients very well.

 

OK rant over. Just get off my lawn!

[drron29]

The greatest thing I taught medical students to do was to talk to patients in language they could understand. Some actually listened to that advice.

[Tothesunset]

The world seems to run on TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) . 

 

My late mother-in-law learned to text but thought LOL meant "Lots Of Love" whereas everyone else in the world knows it means "Laugh Out Loud" 

 

Which accounts for her sending the following message:

 

Xxxxxx has just told me that you had to have (name of pet) put to sleep. It must have been a terrible shock to you. LOL. 

Edited April 18 by Tothesunset

[highplanesdrifters]

20 hours ago, FauxNom said:

I hate to tell tales, but there was a massive outbreak of gastroenteritis on the Cloud in late March, Walvis Bay to Port Elizabeth. We were not told of a precise diagnosis, though it did take you out for 1-3 days, and usually responded to antibiotics. Rumor was that AGE is rampant in Cape Town, where many about-to-embark passengers had spent time before coming on board in Walvis Bay.

 

Hope you weren't one of the victims and your final leg was great. After a week in the bush we returned through CPT .  Gastro issues nailed us after we returned home.  Now it all makes sense. Thanks for that update. 

[FauxNom]

13 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

 

Hope you weren't one of the victims and your final leg was great. After a week in the bush we returned through CPT .  Gastro issues nailed us after we returned home.  Now it all makes sense. Thanks for that update. 

Welcome home! I'm sorry it hit you at all, but I guess home is the best place for it. Indeed, I and all my circle of friends were hit hard. It's not shocking, but so disappointing when you have to miss so many of the incredible events they produced for this cruise.

[highplanesdrifters]

22 minutes ago, FauxNom said:

Welcome home! I'm sorry it hit you at all, but I guess home is the best place for it. Indeed, I and all my circle of friends were hit hard. It's not shocking, but so disappointing when you have to miss so many of the incredible events they produced for this cruise.

 

Yikes! What a bummer. So sorry for you and the pack.  There were so many exciting events on that leg. 

And yes much better to deal with it at home.  Hope all is well and life on the flip side is treating you well.

[jjs217]

My husband and I are fanatics about using the hand sanitizer - what we didn't know until reading this thread (and further research) that it doesn't work on the Noro Virus.  Very interesting.  I can remember when all the hand sanitizer machines made an appearance (well before Covid) in response to ships having large outbreaks of Noro.  Was it just for show?  Or, did "they" not know it wasn't a deterrent.  Hmmm?

 

 

 

[Gourmet Gal]

2 hours ago, FauxNom said:

but so disappointing when you have to miss so many of the incredible events they produced for this cruise.

 

2 hours ago, highplanesdrifters said:

There were so many exciting events on that leg. 

Sorry, off-topic but I have a cruise planned on Nova…what were some of the exciting events?

[highplanesdrifters]

1 hour ago, Gourmet Gal said:

 

Sorry, off-topic but I have a cruise planned on Nova…what were some of the exciting events?

Sorry, this was on the Cloud in South Africa.  Perhaps @FauxNom can chime in.

Edited April 18 by highplanesdrifters

[FauxNom]

1 hour ago, Gourmet Gal said:

 

Sorry, off-topic but I have a cruise planned on Nova…what were some of the exciting events?

Yep, on the Cloud. This cruise was a Conrad Conbrink brain-child, with the most incredible event being a camp set up in the bush for an "overnight tenting experience." Hated to miss that one!

[jollyjones]

6 hours ago, jjs217 said:

I can remember when all the hand sanitizer machines made an appearance (well before Covid) in response to ships having large outbreaks of Noro.  Was it just for show?

 

 

 

 

Yes.

They knew it didn't work against Noro.

It was PR and CYA.

(Since this is the acronym thread)

 

[jollyjones]

 

And back to Chris's original post - here on the Nova there is no touching serving utensils yourself in La T for lunch, you are served by a crew member.

Who, one has to hope, has put clean gloves on not too long ago and hasn't touched anything dodgy without changing their gloves.

One hopes.

And the public areas are being wiped down a lot - elevator panels (there are no buttons), stair rails, chairs, all sorts of things. After the lecture this morning a crew member came round the theatre and sprayed something on all the seats and surfaces.

The library is still closed 'for extra sanitation' - dunno what, probably waiting for any virus to wither and die of old age. Hope it does before I do, I'd like to look at some books.

 

No-one seems worried although there are some people wearing facemasks, I presume they are still concerned about Covid. Hope no-one has H5N1.

 

But Captain Samuele appears in a good mood and very cheerful so mebbe all is well.