36 crew test positive for Covid on MS Roald Amundsen

[Homestyle]

As of Saturday, thirty-six crew members confined on a Norwegian cruise ship have tested positive for the new coronavirus.

 

Arriving at the northern Norwegian port of Tromso from the archipelago of Svalbard, the crew of the MS Roald Amundsen was quarantined on board the ship on Friday after four staff members tested positive for the virus and were hospitalised.

Of the 158 crew members on board, 36 are infected.

 

The ship had nearly 180 passengers on board since departing on July 25. None of the passengers reported symptoms related to coronavirus.

All passengers disembarked the ship on Friday but about 60 people have since been quarantined in Tromso.

 

 

[ipeeinthepool]

This is the nightmare for the cruise industry as they try to restart cruising.  It will be interesting to see if the German cruises end up with the same problem.   Vaccinations for all crew and passengers will be required before we get back to anything near normal.

[ABoatNerd]

1 hour ago, ipeeinthepool said:

This is the nightmare for the cruise industry as they try to restart cruising.  It will be interesting to see if the German cruises end up with the same problem.   Vaccinations for all crew and passengers will be required before we get back to anything near normal.

 

Thank you for your assessment, I concur.

 

It is the quarantine that has occurred which is particularly devastating to the cruise industry - quarantine on the ship or at a port - a significant game changer for sure.

 

 

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, ABoatNerd said:

 

Thank you for your assessment, I concur.

 

It is the quarantine that has occurred which is particularly devastating to the cruise industry - quarantine on the ship or at a port - a significant game changer for sure.

 

 

A game changer?  Or just an expected outcome?

[Lonedaddy]

5 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

This is the nightmare for the cruise industry as they try to restart cruising.  It will be interesting to see if the German cruises end up with the same problem.   Vaccinations for all crew and passengers will be required before we get back to anything near normal.

I can see vax for crew as condition of employment perhaps but if those at risk choose to get a vax as they should and others choose not to  then they only risk themselves.  What is the difference between getting covid and noro?  Do they require proof that you had a smallpox vax or any other.  Slippery slope and Hipa concerns to boot.  

Edited August 2, 2020 by Lonedaddy

[Fouremco]

3 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

What is the difference between getting covid and noro?

Really???

 

[Blackduck59]

We needed a new thread on this subject? We have one already. This is a bad development to be sure, is it the end of the re-start? I don't think so. A much larger ship with many more passengers and crew seems to have pulled of a successful voyage. Time will tell. I wish speedy recovery to crew and passengers from The Roald Amundsen. I hope that there will be some back tracing to see what happened and how the protocols could and should be adjusted going forward. I continue to watch events around the world to see what is working and what needs to be adjusted. 

I would suggest we blend this thread with the one from a couple of days ago because we don't need 2 threads on the same unfortunate subject.

[cruisemom42]

18 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

What is the difference between getting covid and noro?  Do they require proof that you had a smallpox vax or any other.  Slippery slope and Hipa concerns to boot.  

 

What is the difference? People don't tend to die from noro -- are we really back here again???

 

As to requiring a vaccine; of course cruise lines can do it. They already require proof of certain vaccinations in certain areas of the world.  And in my opinion, they should do it.

 

[Baron Barracuda]

The worst part is some sick crew were quarantined mid-sailing (symptoms supposedly not covid) yet passengers were allowed to disembark and travel home without being tested.  

[npcl]

6 hours ago, ipeeinthepool said:

This is the nightmare for the cruise industry as they try to restart cruising.  It will be interesting to see if the German cruises end up with the same problem.   Vaccinations for all crew and passengers will be required before we get back to anything near normal.

This is especially a nightmare when you consider the relatively low infection rates in Norway about 4 per 10,000.  The ship should have been able to sail several cruises before the odds even indicated getting 1 infected person on board.

 

The rates in Germany are even lower about 1 in 10,000 so they should be able to do 8-10 cruises before the odds say that they might run into an infected person.  However they were having problems with crew testing positive before they even get to the ship.

[npcl]

1 hour ago, Lonedaddy said:

I can see vax for crew as condition of employment perhaps but if those at risk choose to get a vax as they should and others choose not to  then they only risk themselves.  What is the difference between getting covid and noro?  Do they require proof that you had a smallpox vax or any other.  Slippery slope and Hipa concerns to boot.  

After the outbreak of measles in several south pacific islands last year they did require proof of measles vaccination before passengers could disembark.

 

Actually HIPPA does not enter into at all.  The passenger would have to release their vaccination record voluntarily. If they decline no proof of vaccination at which point the cruise line could decline to let them board. HIPPA provides privacy of medical records.  It has nothing to do with what a private company might require before they provide passage.  Not unlike some of the restrictions concerning pregnancy today.

[npcl]

48 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

We needed a new thread on this subject? We have one already. This is a bad development to be sure, is it the end of the re-start? I don't think so. A much larger ship with many more passengers and crew seems to have pulled of a successful voyage. Time will tell. I wish speedy recovery to crew and passengers from The Roald Amundsen. I hope that there will be some back tracing to see what happened and how the protocols could and should be adjusted going forward. I continue to watch events around the world to see what is working and what needs to be adjusted. 

I would suggest we blend this thread with the one from a couple of days ago because we don't need 2 threads on the same unfortunate subject.

At the rate of infection in Germany  1 per 10,000 the German cruises should only run into an infection about 1 per 8-10 cruises.

 

Of course the infection rate in Norway is only 4 per 10,000 so the Hurtigruten should not have run into a problem this soon either.

 

One of the German lines did have issues with the crew testing positive prior to boarding. With the false negative rates on PCR tests (around 40% according to some studies) they might not have caught them all.  Just the first German cruise just ended, considering incubation times I would expect a problem, if it exists, not to surface for 7-10 days.  About what it took for the Hurtigruten ship with a passenger from the previous cruise having tested positive before this one ended,

[LXA350]

I don't want to put the blame one anyone but I would have more faith in RCL which includes the TUI brand than Hurtigurten on their safety protocols, hence it looks like their crew members were not sent to quaranten before being sent to board the ship. Considering their ships being quite small, 36 staff teste positive is a lot.

 

It shows again how sensitive the whole re-start is and not to forget from the logistics point of view most ship workers originate from India, Indonesia and the Philipines, countries where numbers are also quite high. Hence, unforunately another indicator that once we will see a restart it will be a very slow one at the begining, step by step one ship at a time likely.

[npcl]

17 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

The worst part is some sick crew were quarantined mid-sailing (symptoms supposedly not covid) yet passengers were allowed to disembark and travel home without being tested.  

The worst part is that a passenger from a previous cruise tested positive, and there are reports that Hurtigruten was notified by health authorities and basically ignored the notification and let passengers disembark.

[Cruising89143]

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/23323-paul-gauguin-has-a-covid-19-case.html

[Covepointcruiser]

I thought all the passengers were from Polynesia so the case must be from Tahiti.   Wouldn’t think anyone has taken a long flight to get to the ship and the ship is quite small.   Has Windstar started sailing Tahiti yet, this was one of our favorite short (7 days) cruises.   We stayed at the Club Med for a week before the cruise, a really wonderful experience.   

[NMTraveller]

The Paul Gauguin cruise was cancelled mid cruise.  A cancellation and quarantine until test results come back.  Probably a cancellation for the next cruise and the next.  

 

I look forward to cruises resuming but it sounds like chaos all over again.

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by NMTraveller

[SeaHunt]

4 hours ago, Covepointcruiser said:

I thought all the passengers were from Polynesia so the case must be from Tahiti.  

 

Well not necessarily from Tahiti as this article shows this cruise was the first that had been opened to international travelers:

"Paul Gauguin resumed sailing July 18 for local residents and opened to international travelers on July 29". 

 

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/covid-19-case-paul-gauguin-french-polynesia

 

I posted on another thread that this part of another article was also really worrying (to me anyway):

 

"Before its change of itinerary, the Paul Gauguin had been anchored off Bora Bora for two days to give passengers the opportunity for on-shore experiences".

 

https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/422613/suspected-covid-19-case-on-cruise-ship-in-tahiti

 

Since Bora Bora has had NO Covid cases, hopefully they still will not have any after that two day port call with "on-shore experiences" by a ship with a positive case onboard. Maybe that person already didn't feel well enough to get off the ship both days in Bora Bora and stayed onboard?

 

 

 

 

[rhblake]

20 hours ago, Lonedaddy said:

  What is the difference between getting covid and noro?

I have not heard of anyone who has died from noro but at least 150,000 have died for covid in the USA alone. HUGE difference.

[Lonedaddy]

28 minutes ago, rhblake said:

I have not heard of anyone who has died from noro but at least 150,000 have died for covid in the USA alone. HUGE difference.

Norovirus is responsible for approximately 200,000 deaths globally.

[Lonedaddy]

20 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

What is the difference? People don't tend to die from noro -- are we really back here again???

 

As to requiring a vaccine; of course cruise lines can do it. They already require proof of certain vaccinations in certain areas of the world.  And in my opinion, they should do it.

 

Norovirus is responsible for approximately 200,000 deaths globally.

[rhblake]

29 minutes ago, Lonedaddy said:

Norovirus is responsible for approximately 200,000 deaths globally.

Can you show me a statistic for that number? The numbers I can find show 900 deaths for noro in the USA.

Edited August 3, 2020 by rhblake

[TeeRick]

20 hours ago, npcl said:

This is especially a nightmare when you consider the relatively low infection rates in Norway about 4 per 10,000.  The ship should have been able to sail several cruises before the odds even indicated getting 1 infected person on board.

 

The rates in Germany are even lower about 1 in 10,000 so they should be able to do 8-10 cruises before the odds say that they might run into an infected person.  However they were having problems with crew testing positive before they even get to the ship.

Do we really know the actual infection rates in these populations?  Or just the rates from people tested.  Could it be that the rates are much higher in an asymptomatic population?  The rates in full random population studies (see Iceland) are more like 1%.  

[TeeRick]

1 hour ago, rhblake said:

I have not heard of anyone who has died from noro but at least 150,000 have died for covid in the USA alone. HUGE difference.

Here is a source for Norovirus numbers:

 

https://www.cdc.gov/norovirus/trends-outbreaks/burden-US.html

[rhblake]

TeeRick - That is where I found the 900 figure I put in my second response at #22