Outbreak Of Norovirus On Connie!

[tom_uk]

I worry more about the eradication of the existing virus on the ship, as the carriers are obviously the staff since the illness has continued on from cruise to cruise.

 

I thnk that's a very bald statement.

 

Here's a link to a report by CDC about multiple continuing outbreaks on a single ship, over a number of weeks:

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol11no01/04-0434.htm

 

The report does indeed say: "Although these findings suggest that environmental contamination may have helped perpetuate the outbreak, infected crew members could have also been a reservoir of infection between cruises." However, it then goes on to point out: "Molecularly fingerprinting of detected viruses confirmed several introductions of new strains aboard...". So on the one hand there could have been re-infection from an on-board reservoir, but in addition there seem to have been new infections, involving different strains, which must have been brought onto the ship by a new arriver.

 

I think the report is very interesting reading, as are many other documents about Noro on the CDC website. I'll finish off by continuing one the quotes above: "....which underscores the difficulty in controlling outbreaks of NoV on cruise ships." Experiences relayed on this board and others report the truth of this.

[Bisous3]

I really am worried about this outbreak. Not only for myself but for my six year old as well. It can really ruin a vacation, and BOY do I need this one!!

Oh well....all we can do is wash our hands- and pray!

[m steve]

I plan to have enough alcohol in my system to keep it sterile and kill off any germs that might come near me. I will walk around the ship with my hands in my pockets and spray the life vests with Lysol before touching them. I wonder if I should bring my own silverware, plates and glasses to use on the ship? Also linens and towels? If I still get the virus and it kills me, can my family sue X?

[Lsimon]

m steve - you make a good point about the life vests. On the Connie cruise in question, a lot of us on board (fortunately we didn't catch the bug) were commenting on how fast it hit many people and were wondering what kind of contact might have introduced it so fast. We were wondering about the possibility of the food, but never thought of the life vests. Of course you have very close contact with the life vest as soon as you're on board and have to put it on, snugly around your neck, head and chest, for the muster drill. Hmmmm......

[JEDMELK]

I plan to have enough alcohol in my system to keep it sterile and kill off any germs that might come near me. I will walk around the ship with my hands in my pockets and spray the life vests with Lysol before touching them. I wonder if I should bring my own silverware, plates and glasses to use on the ship? Also linens and towels? If I still get the virus and it kills me, can my family sue X?

Steve I believe that we will get along "famously" on our cruise, and after all is being treated famously what Celebrity is all about?

I too believe in self medication and think there is no better way than to start from within (with alcohol of course). The only issue I have with your statement is: how can you medicate if you keep your hands in your pockets? Will the ship staff walk along with us to hold our beverages while we sip them or can we just set up an IV bag for ourselves?

See you in a few weeks

[Bisous3]

Hmmmm......good point about the life preservers. Wonder if we can just not put them on?

[Lsimon]

Hmmmm......good point about the life preservers. Wonder if we can just not put them on?

 

You will be required to put on your life preserver as part of the muster drill.

[TPKeller]

You will be required to put on your life preserver as part of the muster drill.

This would seem to be a major disconnect. If they won't even let you get your own drink at the drink station, yet they require you to get up close and personal to a device which is bound to be carrying many germs, someone's missing the point.

 

Blah, blah, blah, I'm sure the rules require that passengers actually put on the life vest, but... At the very least they should direct a little of the massive effort to disinfect the life preservers. Has anyone ever seen this being done?

 

It is so frustrating when there is such a lack of common sense.

 

Theron

[arabrab]

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

 

Not sure about your schools, but in ours the Public Health Department certainly gets involved. When my daughter was in second grade whooping cough broke out in the school & spread. They Public Health department closed the school for a 2 day period plus the weekend, and all students who did not have proof of immunization were exluded from school for two weeks. (Colorado has a quite liberal parent opt-out for immunzations.)

 

Two years ago, her middle school suffered an influenza outbreak and when the numbers hit 15%, again, school was closed for a long weekend. When school reopened, anyone who had a fever or other flu symptoms was sent home immediately. Again, they undertook a special cleaning process.

 

I'd say that cruise ships are materially different than school and office environments. First, people are crowded together very tightly, and many of the people are older and probably have less robust immune systems and other health issues which exacerbate the problem. At work or at school most people aren't eating the same food (I think about 10% of the students buy from the lunch line) and most offices don't even have cafeterias, so you don't have that opportunity for contamination, and the office envirnoment often doesn't even have a lot of shared resources -- people have their own phones, computers, desks and chairs.

 

Most of all, when you feel sick it may seem easier to stay home from school or work, or less trouble to go home if you get sick while you're there. People invest a lot of time and money planning cruise vacations, usually with other people, and they're unwilling to pull the ripcord on what might turn out to be just a minor problem. Many probably didn't buy insurance, and so are looking at a major unplanned expense if they don't complete the trip as planned, and still others don't want to cause their entire cabin to be quarantined and so don't report the illness when it happens on board.

 

I also suspect that at some point they'll find evidence that a number of people are silent carriers for Noro, spreading the disease while not experiencing the symptoms.

[RockyMtnMama]

If you are worried about the life vests, I'd take along some Clorox wipes and wipe them down as soon as you get there. Next wipe down the door handles, light switches, closet doors, dresser drawers, remote control, telephone, etc.

 

Come to think of it, Lysol spray might be faster. But it takes more room to pack. TV remotes and telephones are almost never cleaned by hotel staff, so I suspect the same would be true on a cruise.

[m steve]

X could set up stations like where they sell the bottles of water when you board the ship and sell cans of spray to take to your cabin. Probably could get $5 for a $2 item. Quell opportune!

[mmp13]

Arabrab,

 

With all due respect an outbreak of whooping cough is not even in the same league as an outbreak of Norovirus. whooping cough even in theis day and age can be an extremely serious illness. same with the flu. while norovirus does certainly disrupt a vacation it is rarely fatal unless one is extremely immuno-compromised. Frankly if one is I'm really not sure a cruise ship is the right place to be.

 

Secondly, 15% of a population having the flu is considerably different from the 3 to 4 percent of cruise ship passengers that get sick. I have checked the CDC reports and done the math. I think you will find that the percentages of sick people on a cruise ship probably corolates(sp) pretty closely to the number of sick people in the general population.

 

I guess the best thing we all can do is wash our hands and hope that if we have to get sick it is not while we are on vacation. I'm sure wiping down the life vests might prevent some cases but in truth, viruses do not live very long outside of the body and since life vests are only handled once during a cruise (hopefully:) ) I don't think they are that great a threat! Just don't blow the whistle!:eek:

 

As for sterilizing from within....Heck sounds good to me!!!!!!! I try to always have a martini nearby.....for medicinal purposes only!:D

[m steve]

Publix has disinfecting wipes on sale this week!

[Robbiethedog]

I know no one wants to get sick while on vacation, but how come no one gets into a tizzy when there's a norovirus outbreak at the office or at school (where, by the way, no one bothers to bleach or sanitize, or get the CDC involved)?

It's not the outbreak that's the problem, it's the fact that people sufferning from the outbreak are isolated in their rooms for 48 hours (and, in some cases, 72 hours). It's no joke being confined to a room for two days and being served a very limited range of foods (prescribed by the medical staff). Two days out of ten days is 20pc of the holiday. And then there are the after effects of the bout of illness -- in my case, a loss of energy, which meant that I was not able to enjoy the rest of the holiday to the extent I expected. I had travelled from Ireland specially for this cruise, a lot further than most people on the ship, and the illness affected my enjoyment of the holiday. I did enjoy the entire cruise, but would have enjoyed it more if I was in top form.