Cruise Ships Are Still Sailing as Cases Rise and Criticism Mounts The New York Times

Table Of Content

• Seasickness on cruise ships
• Norovirus Cases Are Rising on Cruises. Here’s How You Can Stay Safe
• Environments Where Norovirus Spreads Quickly
• These are the cruise ships with the best — and worst — sanitation scores so far this year
• Surge at Sea: Alarming Increase of Norovirus Outbreaks on Cruise Ships
• Why are acute gastrointestinal illnesses including noroviruses associated with cruise ships?

[6] These thresholds are subject to change based on the characteristics of the dominant COVID-19 variant or a novel respiratory virus in the United States or elsewhere. They are located on upper decks and include cabins for families, couples and single cabins. Attacking a hospital ship is considered a war crime, but enemy forces have the right to board them for inspections. Seasickness is physical disorientation as a result of conflicting signals received by the brain from different body senses. Our inner ear senses the ship's irregular motion, which our eyes can't see because the floor and walls are stable.

Seasickness on cruise ships

While most people recover, the virus does cause about 900 deaths a year, mostly in adults 65 and older. Summer travel has returned and people are flocking to cruises again, with more than 31.5 million passengers expected to sail in 2023. Additionally, the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, implemented in the 1970s, subjects all passenger ships carrying 13 or more people to random, unannounced inspections if they wish to call on ports in the United States. Respirators or well-fitting masks should be readily available and symptomatic passengers and crew should be encouraged to use them if they have to be outside their cabins.

Norovirus Cases Are Rising on Cruises. Here’s How You Can Stay Safe

According to the CDC, each person who is infected with norovirus sheds billions of viral particles. Many of the symptoms last for just two or three days and while it may come on and leave quite quickly in comparison to other viruses, during the time the symptoms are present, it can be extremely uncomfortable. Norovirus is a viral infection that is one of the most common types of gastroenteritis — a condition that causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal upset. Studies have shown that norovirus can continue to spread for two weeks or more after an infected person stops having symptoms of the illness, according to the CDC.

Environments Where Norovirus Spreads Quickly

The crew serves with short-term (2 weeks to 2 years) and long-term (min 2 years) contracts. Volunteer crew members occupy both medical (surgeons, dentists, nurses) and general jobs (deckhands, seamen, engineers, machinists, electricians, teachers, cooks, welders, plumbers, agriculturalists. The most severe outbreaks were reported in Brazil, with an alarming surge in newborns with microcephaly. If the mother is infected, the virus may cause microcephaly in newborns. This is a neurodevelopmental disorder - babies are born with an underdeveloped head. In February 2020, the shipowner cruise company Lindblad Expeditions announced the "Premium Purity" program with a shipwide cleaning system based on ACT CleanCoat technology.

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The CDC estimates only about 1% of all annual U.S. norovirus cases happen on cruise ships. The numbers are greatest in nursing homes, hospitals, schools and restaurants, which collectively account for about 91% of cases. They ask passengers who feel ill during their cruises to report symptoms to the medical center and keep themselves isolated in their cabins. In some circumstances, additional public health precautions, such as returning to port immediately or delaying the next voyage, may be considered to help ensure the health and safety of onboard travelers or newly arriving travelers. Health authorities say cruise passengers should wash their hands often and leave the area if they see someone get sick.

Since many people do not get tested, experts can only estimate how many norovirus cases occur in the U.S. every year. While the virus can affect people in large groups, we are starting to see bigger clusters of individuals getting sick. Hydration is one of the most important things you can do to help prevent dehydration — the biggest complication of this illness. While this virus tends to be short-lived, treatment is based on symptomatic care. According to the Cruise Lines International Association, cruise passenger volume is estimated to reach 106% of 2019 levels this year, with 31.5 million passengers expected to set sail. Surfaces or objects that are contaminated with norovirus can be cleaned with a high-level disinfectant like bleach, per Ostrosky.

When such symptoms are noticed, passengers should take precautions to prevent intensifying the disorientation. Obviously, the first thing is to go to the ship's infirmary (medical center) and contact the doctor. You should drink plenty of water as dehydration is a side-effect of the illness.

There are passenger testimonials about quarantined ships and how badly guests have been treated by the line. Virus outbreak news speaks of a lack of proper hygiene control, badly trained staff, bad ship management. The whole responsibility goes to the shipowner (cruise line company) and its management. Cruise ships publish daily health and safety instructions to their passengers on how to avoid mosquito bites.

So far, cruise lines have reported 13 separate norovirus outbreaks to the CDC through the six months ending in June. It’s the most number of reported norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships since 2012, when there were 16. Thirteen ships so far this year have reported outbreaks of the highly contagious stomach bug, the most since 2012, according to the U.S.

The UK Health Security Agency recently reported that norovirus cases are approximately 66% higher this season than the five-season average of the same period before COVID-19. While having the symptoms of norovirus can be uncomfortable, they tend to be very short-lived and something that many people recover from in just a few days with over-the-counter medications. Most people get better after a few days, but severe cases may require hospitalization. However, as travel surges this summer, travel-related illnesses are expected to surge, as well. “I think our travel frenzy after COVID is partially fueling this continued spread (of norovirus),” says Ostrosky. ▪ The federal health agency says that the virus, on average, causes 19 to 21 million illnesses in the U.S. each year.

VSP (abbrev "Vessel Sanitation Program") monitors CDC's observations on illness patterns for GI (gastrointestinal) outbreaks on passenger shipping vessels (ferries and cruise ships). When a single case of norovirus appears on a cruise ship, it can quickly become an outbreak affecting hundreds or even thousands of people. This can happen incredibly quickly due to the confined nature of a cruise ship and the frequency of close interactions among passengers and crew. Norovirus, sometimes referred to as the “winter vomiting bug,” is a highly contagious virus that causes gastroenteritis, an inflammation of the stomach and intestines.

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Most recently, a norovirus outbreak in June on the Viking Neptune sickened 110 passengers (over 13% of the ship's guests) and nine crew members with vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramps, according to the CDC. The CDC has tracked outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness on cruise ships through its Vessel Sanitation Program (VSP) since 1994. It's a very common, highly contagious, ruthlessly efficient and uncomfortably bad virus affecting the stomach and large intestines. Often called "stomach flu" (the med term is "Gastroenteritis") the infection results in massive vomiting and diarrhea. Sickness outbreaks are considered as such if the percentage of infected people is over 3%.

In the following table, you can see all 2019-reported Norovirus outbreaks on cruise ships. It shows the number of sick passengers and crew (with the respective percentage to all), along with the corresponding CDC report pages (if available) as outgoing links. For the agency to report a cruise-ship outbreak, 3% or more of passengers or crew members must report symptoms of gastrointestinal illness, such as vomiting and diarrhea, to the ship's medical staff. During the most recent outbreak, a 14-day cruise aboard the Viking Neptune in June, slightly over 13% of passengers (110 of 838) reported being ill with predominant symptoms of abdominal cramps, vomiting, and diarrhea, according to the CDC.

To do that, they use stronger solvents, like Microbac, chlorine bleach, hydrogen peroxide. Sick passengers and crew are quarantined in their rooms, typically for at least 2 days. When Norovirus outbreaks can't be contained, cruise lines might also pull the ship out of service for a few days for sanitizing.