Positive Covid Case on Paul Gauguin's 1st Cruise

[MrRandal]

A positive case of Covid has been detected on the cruise liner the Paul Gauguin.

The announcement was made to the ship's passengers tonight.

The cruise ship was between the islands of Bora Bora and Rangiroa when the case was detected by the onboard doctor. The boat immediately made a U-turn towards Papeete.

As soon as the Paul Gauguin arrives in Papeete tomorrow morning, a specialized team will come on board to test all passengers and crew members. In the meantime, passengers are returned to their cabins.

The liner should dock on Sunday morning around 7:00 a.m.

 

The active case onboard is from the USA.

 

The article below is in French:

https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/polynesie/tahiti/cas-positif-covid-ete-detecte-paquebot-croisiere-paul-gauguin-858438.html?fbclid=IwAR0JlWoq-DoE7fDOAxW_n9nNVgV-x-fADmOMwkTgi5aaJZHibJfrln_qR6s

 

 

Edited August 2, 2020 by MrRandal
More info

[ScotsLady]

39 minutes ago, MrRandal said:

A positive case of Covid has been detected on the cruise liner the Paul Gauguin.

The announcement was made to the ship's passengers tonight.

The cruise ship was between the islands of Bora Bora and Rangiroa when the case was detected by the onboard doctor. The boat immediately made a U-turn towards Papeete.

As soon as the Paul Gauguin arrives in Papeete tomorrow morning, a specialized team will come on board to test all passengers and crew members. In the meantime, passengers are returned to their cabins.

The liner should dock on Sunday morning around 7:00 a.m.

 

The active case onboard is from the USA.

 

The article below is in French:

https://la1ere.francetvinfo.fr/polynesie/tahiti/cas-positif-covid-ete-detecte-paquebot-croisiere-paul-gauguin-858438.html?fbclid=IwAR0JlWoq-DoE7fDOAxW_n9nNVgV-x-fADmOMwkTgi5aaJZHibJfrln_qR6s

 

 

Oh no, how disappointing. We are on the 3rd October cruise and hoping things would be ok.

[MrRandal]

2 minutes ago, ScotsLady said:

Oh no, how disappointing. We are on the 3rd October cruise and hoping things would be ok.

 

I have no idea how this will effect future cruises, but yes, very disappointing. They had what I thought was a pretty good plan in place, but I assume the person tested negative before departure, and then tested positive at the 4 day test required by FP and performed by the on board medical staff. 

[Cruisedreamer1]

OH, how sad!! My husband and I were discussing how to get the 72 our test when this notice popped up!

[doctorglaser]

Any word from people on board with regards to update? From Maritime Traffic site looks like Paul Gauguin along side dock in Papeete. Shame. 

Edited August 2, 2020 by doctorglaser

[susiesan]

I would think they will keep the people on the ship for the 14 day quarantine time frame and cancel the next 2 or 3 cruises.  They cannot fly home and the FP government is not going to allow however many people are on the ship onto land. Where would they go if they are possibly infected? No hotel would take them in.

[klkaylor78]

More data will be helpful but does bring to light the problems with low prevalence disease screening in an attempt to make a

"sterile area" for a new "social bubble" that would allow a group to safely travel together over a period of time.  No test is perfect and PCR runs at about 95% negative predictive value so some negative tests are falsely negative and at the present time there is no good way find that 5% especially if you take the data that shows that up to 60% of PCR positive people are asymptomatic.

While the is a sad occurance the next question is what can we learn from strong, well thought out , organized, program to screen out "infected" (both symptomatic and asymptomatic) passengers that apparently failed? This is not blame or shame statement but a limitation of present day testing and data collection.

Do we need pre cruise isolation and multiple tests prior to boarding?  --or--

Board and do the isolation on the ship prior to sailing?

Give up cruising until the case fatality ratio is as low a common flu? or another bench mark? by vacination or treatment methods?

Only low risk people in high risk area until prevention or treatment is better?

 

We enjoy travel and I have been stuck still for 4 + month with lots of time for critical thinking - I hope others will chime in on the CDC cruising questionaire to find a solution to our problems.

 

[Tahitianbigkahuna]

The positive test was from the required test 4 days after you enter FP. The ship was notified from the FP medical authorities that a passenger came up positive. The ship was ordered back to PPT where it is at this moment.

 

The positive passenger came through LAX but had verification that they were negative with their required 72 hour test prior to boarding. 

 

All required protocols were followed ...

 

I'll update once more factual information comes my way. 

Edited August 3, 2020 by Tahitianbigkahuna

[Mercruiser]

Here is an article just posted on the local Tahiti news (in French):

https://www.tahiti-infos.com/Le-Covid-19-decele-a-bord-du-Paul-Gauguin_a193149.html

[klkaylor78]

The key here is what type of test is the 4 day take home test - if PCR then positive is most likely (95%) true, if an antigen test then only about a 70% positive perdictive value - key point to know.

 

I have tried to find out via web searching what type of test the take home 4 day test his without results - does anyone know?  

 

I am concerned about this issue as we are scheduled to do a private contracted cruise on PG in Dec and have a non refundable payment due in 8 days - so far PG has not cancelled the cruise - only instituted a pretty draconian set of rules that don't seem to have been successful.  

 

Appreciate the data from the folks on board - news sometimes in hard to get so thanks again

[klkaylor78]

5 hours ago, resistk said:

 

The only solution is to suspend cruising worldwide as a dangerous activity during a pandemic, the cruise lines have proven they will put $$$ over passenger and crew safety.  The Hurtigruten disaster proves that:

36 crew infected on Hurtigruten ship: Passengers disembarked, potentially exposing communities

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/08/01/hurtigruten-cruise-line-33-crew-infected-covid-19-norway/5562151002/

 Nothing in life is fully "safe". Illnesses such as flu, norvovirus are possible on every cruise.  You can get sick from lots of activities - decompression sickness from scuba, mountain sickness from Killi , malaria from the amazon - the question is why is Covid creating such a panic? Is it that infectious diseases are scary? Is it the infectabilty - seem rather high, is it the case fatality rate - moderately high but really unknown.  I am not willing to give up all activities for 100% safety - but then again with the know data on covid what is safe? That is the real question?  How much "freedom"-fun, social interaction, sports do we give up for what level of safety ? I dont have the answer but maybe cruising is the thing that should make us think of these and other deeper questions. Personally I think goversment driven fear that did not correlate with the realtiy has cause us to push for a "zero tollerance" theory in the US and a little distrust of the numbers. 

[klkaylor78]

that is my present problem - gave money to a tour company who has contracted with PG/Ponant. I think the new rules on PG - closed dinning space, no casino, half only full auditorium, multiple tests, fear of being not allowed on,  are a significant changes to what I signed up for but our tour operator is so far refusing to refund - they want us to accept the changes because Ponant/PG will not cancel the contract.  While I personally feel the trip is safe - yes a risk of illness is there I am at low risk of death, I think that for what I am paying the trip will not be worth my money.  

 

It is true covid is killing people - but so is the flu, driving cars, alcohol abuse - but the world has accepted those items to some extent - why is covid so felt to be so bad?  It is the perceived infectablity combined with the unknown case fatality ratio - along with poor information.  

[DavidTheWonderer]

I don't have any inside information, but two people here have said the positive case was a passenger.  But the Guardian claims it was a crew member.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/two-cruise-ships-hit-by-coronavirus-weeks-after-industry-restarts

[susiesan]

here's the latest from the FP High Commissioner's office:

 

As soon as the Paul Gauguin cruise ship docked, the person who had been tested positive via a self-test carried out 4 days after arriving aboard the ship, has done an additional RT-PCR test which confirmed its positivity.

This person was immediately removed from the cruise ship. A member of the person’s family who shared the same cabin has been tested and the result is negative. These two people have been placed with strict solitary confinement in a dedicated place.
 
According to the health protocol regulations, all ‘contact cases’, passengers and crew members, were quickly tested. The results of all ‘contact cases’ are negative. (Note, these are people who are known to have had direct contact with the positive case.)

Sampling of all remaining passengers and crew has been completed this evening and the results will be known tomorrow. The results will be shared through an official communication.

Pending these results, all other passengers and crew remain confined aboard the cruise ship in their cabins. The cruise company will keep passengers regularly informed about any further developments as they occur.

[Mercruiser]

2 hours ago, DavidTheWonderer said:

I don't have any inside information, but two people here have said the positive case was a passenger.  But the Guardian claims it was a crew member.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/aug/03/two-cruise-ships-hit-by-coronavirus-weeks-after-industry-restarts

The Tahiti press says it is an American passenger (article in French)

https://www.tahiti-infos.com/Test-Covid-positif-confirme-pour-la-touriste-americaine-sur-le-Paul-Gauguin_a193149.html

 

Tahiti Infos is the local newspaper based in Faa Tahiti. The Guardian is a UK newspaper. I'm going to go with the Tahiti newspaper reporting.

 

[klkaylor78]

there is a thread under the PG roll call for the 29 Jul trip for some real time information on the happenings.  Per that tread they are disembarking today with flight back home.  Tough time for all - FP, Tahiti, Bora Bora, Moorea, PG, Ponant (they were touting quite strongly that they were the best cruise line as they had never had a positive test on board- ouch). 

I hope that PG/Ponant do the right thing in giving quick refunds - but of course there will be a discussion on how much to return given that "they had already eaten part of the steak". 

[MrRandal]

 An update from Tahiti Tourism: As soon as the Paul Gauguin cruise ship docked, the person who had been tested positive via a self-test carried out 4 days after arriving aboard the ship, has done an additional RT-PCR test which confirmed its positivity.

This person was immediately removed from the cruise ship. A member of the person’s family who shared the same cabin has been tested and the result is negative. These two people have been placed with strict solitary confinement in a dedicated place.

According to the health protocol regulations, all ‘contact cases’, passengers and crew members, were quickly tested. The results of all ‘contact cases’ are negative. (Note, these are people who are known to have had direct contact with the positive case.)

Sampling of all remaining passengers and crew has been completed this evening and the results will be known tomorrow. The results will be shared through an official communication.

Pending these results, all other passengers and crew remain confined aboard the cruise ship in their cabins. The cruise company will keep passengers regularly informed about any further developments as they occur.

[schnapperin]

3 minutes ago, AussieBoyTX said:

 

Are there any international flights aside to/from the US and Canada at this time? If FP needs the tourism spend, that's their only choice.

Paris via Vancouver Is also possible 

[klkaylor78]

So FP is not dependant on on US flight here is the list into PPT

[AussieBoyTX]

1 hour ago, klkaylor78 said:

So FP is not dependant on on US flight here is the list into PPT

Right now, the only ones from that list that are flying are Air Tahiti Nui via Vancouver & Los Angeles, Air France via Vancouver and French Bee via Vancouver (not on the list above).

The other airlines are not operating right now. You can explore the flight history for PPT here (among other places): https://flightaware.com/live/airport/NTAA

 

One thing that Air Tahiti Nui proposed way back in March was service to/from France via Martinique, making their flights effectively domestic.

 

EDIT: United has a flight scheduled from San Francisco starting tomorrow.

Edited August 3, 2020 by AussieBoyTX

[schnapperin]

More people from the US to arrive in FP - lets see if they change protocol (quarantine until the 4 day test comes back for example)

[Cruise Critic Chris]

The line confirmed to us that the passenger was a 22-year-old asymptomatic American. 

Here's our article: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5502/. The PG section is after the info on Hurtigruten. 

[Dolebludger]

Chris,

 

Thanks for the useful information. I hope you will give us updates on further events such as on-shore resting, quarantines, and manner of sending crew and passengers home.

[MrRandal]

13 minutes ago, Cruise Critic Chris said:

The line confirmed to us that the passenger was a 22-year-old asymptomatic American. 

Here's our article: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5502/. The PG section is after the info on Hurtigruten. 

 

Chris, did the line give you a total number of passengers, and how many were International passengers? Someone on the roll call, who is apparently on board, stated there were only 16 International passengers, 5 Americans, and 11 French. The remainder of the 148 passengers were from French Polynesia.

[Roger88]

I frequently receive such news. I always wondered how they do detect it on board. I mean so short line cruises are either taking on board already sick people or they simply have no temperature tests before boarding. I also doubt any precautions are taken care of when such incidents happen