Fake News ? Silver Shadow cdc report from latest cruise

My fb feed overnight contained a report from Cruise Law News that the Shadow had a reportable level of git illness on it's most recent cruise.

IMO this is a very low level of infection and unremarkable save for the newsworthiness of now mandatory reporting where 3% or more of passengers and crew fall ill

Cruise Line: Silversea Cruises

Cruise Ship: Silver Shadow

Voyage Dates: May 10–24, 2018

Number of passengers who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of passengers onboard: 28 of 327 (8.56%)

Number of crew who have reported being ill during the voyage out of total number of crew onboard: 8 of 290 (2.76%)

Predominant symptoms: vomiting, diarrhea

Respectfully, IMHO if almost 3x (the minimum number for reporting) of pax (almost 9%) are falling ill, and that number is more than 3x the number of crew falling ill (almost 3%), I'd say something is wrong in the galley; and, I wouldn't say "this is a very low level of infection and unremarkable".

Maybe the pax should start eating the slop they feed the crew? ;)

Easy to suggest an explanation for the disparity.

Pax came on with norovirus.Interacts mainly with other passengers.Most of crew not exposed.

Respectfully, IMHO if almost 3x (the minimum number for reporting) of pax (almost 9%) are falling ill, and that number is more than 3x the number of crew falling ill (almost 3%), I'd say something is wrong in the galley; and, I wouldn't say "this is a very low level of infection and unremarkable".

 

Maybe the pax should start eating the slop they feed the crew? ;)

Question for you. How do you correlate a 3 times higher incidence of GI illness in passengers compared to crew, to a "problem in the galley"? If you look at nearly every "outbreak update" (which is what those CDC reports are, updates to previous reports), you will find that the passenger to crew ratio is at least 3 to 1, sometimes many times that. This is because the crew have been trained in better hand sanitation, not because they are doing something wrong in the galley. Very few cases of noro or GI illness in general are caused by food contamination, especially on ships.

I will agree that the reported levels are significant, and of course justify the attendance by USPH inspectors to check out the remediation procedures being done.

I wish people would not indiscriminately use the term "fake news" to lead off a thread or anything else because it legitimizes this absurd contention that anything unfavorable is fake.

Absolutely agree, wripro! Thanks for making this comment.

The other side of the coin and how to spin a story.

I have recently returned from a trip on the Wind.

Did I have GI problems? Yes.

Was the food on board the cause? Yes.

Did I report it? No.

Doesn’t sound at all good does it.

But ..... we had just been travelling for 24hours

We had minimal sleep, picked at airline slop, and been jet lagged and stressed so my insides didn’t know if it was Wednesday or Easter !!! To be then presented with very good food, probably slightly richer than I am generally used to and anything could happen.

Had I sought medical attention on board I presume they would have been obliged to record it as such?

Just a thought

As an aside, I can’t find anything on the CDC ‘Official’ site.

Sent from the magic box!

It's there. On the "outbreak update" page.

https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/GIlist.htm

Click on the 2018 tab, and the Shadow is the top report.

To all in general -

I know, I know... I was just 'stirring the pot'. :)

It seems the guy who runs Cruise Law News is a bit of an 'Ambulance Chaser' (but that's his job). ;) Just as cruise line marketers' jobs are to get you 'on board'... deception is part of the game.

I apologise for the "fake News" preamble, my excuse is that I am an Aussie and quite insensitive to issues that seem to cause great angst among US residents.

The report appeared on my facebook news feed early in the morning ; when I went back a few hours later to check some details it was gone, which prompted the fake news preamble. I found the report elsewhere and posted my commentary.

I subsequently realised that facebook algorithms decide what to show in a dynamic fashion; meaning it may be newsworthy one moment and usurped by some more revenue relevant advertorial material the next.

We do indeed live in a brave new world…..

Ironically, what you have succeeded in doing is bringing to a wider audience something you strongly felt not worthy of being publicised, :)

We do indeed live in a brave new world…..

Ironically, what you have succeeded in doing is bringing to a wider audience something you strongly felt not worthy of being publicised, :)

We (our information) have become the 'commodity'. :( That's why I'm not on FB (or any other social media). :rolleyes:

We (our information) have become the 'commodity'. :( That's why I'm not on FB (or any other social media). :rolleyes:

You have been a commodity long before FB. Every time you ordered something on-line your purchases were tracked and appropriate offers made. You were even made special offers if you failed to check out with something in your basket. Before then, it was done but was laboriously manual. The only difference is that people feel they have been suckered by FB, Google et al whereas before they were aware of it but felt it was innocuous.

I think the posting of the CDC report also highlighted that there was an interesting disparity between recorded reports by staff compared to passengers and I was left with the feeling that the staff illnesses was probably under-reported perhaps due to employees feeling a pressure not to have illness officially recorded maybe because reporting it might they feel or are told would count against them.

Ironically, what you have succeeded in doing is bringing to a wider audience something you strongly felt not worthy of being publicised

That may be true ; otoh, my words may have been crafted with a range of possible responses in mind.... :-)

I think the posting of the CDC report also highlighted that there was an interesting disparity between recorded reports by staff compared to passengers and I was left with the feeling that the staff illnesses was probably under-reported perhaps due to employees feeling a pressure not to have illness officially recorded maybe because reporting it might they feel or are told would count against them.

I'm pretty sure pax illnesses are under-reported as well. Human nature being what it is, who's going to report gastrointestinal 'distress' when they realize they are paying $1000 per day to be confined to their room? Thus compounding the 'Noro problem'. :(

That may be true ; otoh, my words may have been crafted with a range of possible responses in mind.... :-)

Sadly, you have crafted your words so cunningly that I'm afraid I don't understand. My fault and I apologise. :)

Sadly, you have crafted your words so cunningly that I'm afraid I don't understand. My fault and I apologise. :)

accepted… Given a choice , I would prefer a foxlike allegory as crafty (craftily) rather than cunning.. :-)