Is Carnival Required to tell you

[smellywax]

Is Carnival Required to tell you if your room steward or wait staff tests positive? 

[brilliantseas]

They will notify you if you are a "close contact," but it is unlikely that you are a "close contact" based solely on the fact that a staff member serving you has tested positive. You spend far less than 15 minutes per day around your room steward or your waitstaff. 

[Joe817]

No. That's a well guarded secret. But.....only if they HAVE tested positive, is my assumption. But this is only my opinion. 

[icft]

1 hour ago, smellywax said:

Is Carnival Required to tell you if your room steward or wait staff tests positive? 

I would think not since it would serve no purpose unless you have been hugging and kissing your steward or wait staff. What if they were required? What would you do differently? You pass by infected people all the time in normal life unless you have been in self isolation for the past two years. In that case why in the world would you go on a cruise? What do you do different after you go to the store?

 

I guess they could take the position that anyone who has been within six feet of an infected person has to notified and isolated. But that is kind of the purpose of vaccinated cruises; you don't have to be so extreme because the consequences to a vaccinated person are so much less.

[Wennfred]

Onboard Panorama 3 times from Sept - Dec. and I kept up with my crew members friends that served me in the MDR and they had just received their boosters & flu shots together, just like the rest of us, a few got sick from it, not that they had Covid but had a bad reaction from the booster vaccine, on another site someone posted that 7 passengers got Covid on my last cruise, who knows if they got it from travel. There were 4000 passengers on my cruise and was 9 days since disembarkation which was Dec 24th, I’m still fine. Wear your N95 mask and keep your hands washed and clean and keep them away from your face. Don’t go into a full elevator, wait for the next one, it’s usually empty or take the stairs. The last night the comedy lounge was full to capacity, I got up and left, most of these comedians are on YouTube and you can see them there.

 

4 day cruise in February, nothing to worry about.

 

Fred

[beerman2]

I would think that would be a Hippa (sic) violation. 

[Joebucks]

Not that I know the answer for sure, but I'd have to go with no. If they did this, where would the cutoff be? Your MDR staff had it? Everyone in the casino may have had it? Your guest services interaction? Seems like a lot of unnecessary panic would be induced.

[Guest BasicSailor]

9 hours ago, smellywax said:

Is Carnival Required to tell you if your room steward or wait staff tests positive? 

Required No, 

Thinking about the room steward cleaning up room after room, moving along each cabin after cabin then picking up more cabins as another steward got sick from covid.  Now cleaning cabins where a covid victim has been.  As most of us know those sheets and pillowcases get replaced before the next batch of cruiser board. In the meantime, the steward is there collecting up all the dirty cases, sheets.

Yea, someone's going to share the virus for sure, no matter in the lounges, theatre etc 

 

Edited January 3, 2022 by BasicSailor

[momof3cruisers]

1 hour ago, beerman2 said:

I would think that would be a Hippa (sic) violation. 

I agree.
 

And I know from my kids’ restaurant jobs that they don’t notify the diners if waitstaff test positive. They don’t meet the time requirement. No one spends 15 min straight at a table.

Edited January 3, 2022 by momof3cruisers

[Drazil65]

No violation and considering there was never any effort for contact tracing in the first year of covid, there is virtually no way to start now (so no violation or protocol to say anything if you dont want to). 

 

I know of people that feel sick and refuse to test (they dont want to know),  they assume they may have it and just go about their business (non maskers at that).   If you think about it, you probably run into many people each day doing the same thing and you will never know.  One of the main reasons omicron is running rapid and spreading so fast.  You will not know until you feel sick or test positive yourself.  

[Cruisesfun65]

If your cabin steward or dining room waiter doesn't show up for a couple of days  - there's your answer. 

[broberts]

3 hours ago, beerman2 said:

I would think that would be a Hippa (sic) violation. 

 

How is advising someone that they have come in contact with an infected person a HIPAA violation?

[sanmarcosman]

14 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

How is advising someone that they have come in contact with an infected person a HIPAA violation?

I think it's the identifying of the infected person that is the issue, no? Informing someone they have been exposed is ok but not naming names, I believe.

[sailingships]

11 hours ago, smellywax said:

Is Carnival Required to tell you if your room steward or wait staff tests positive? 

The person youre sitting next to at the table could be positive and have symptoms and not tell you. That's happened a lot. 

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, beerman2 said:

I would think that would be a Hippa (sic) violation. 

You do realize that HIPAA does not apply outside the US?

[broberts]

28 minutes ago, sailingships said:

The person youre sitting next to at the table could be positive and have symptoms and not tell you. That's happened a lot. 

 

Yes, I realize that there are people quite willing to pass on what is to me and mine a potentially deadly disease. It's why I'm not cruising and have severely restricted my public activity. Many of us are being held hostage by such uncaring behavior.

[d-train]

57 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

You do realize that HIPAA does not apply outside the US?

Not only that, but doesn't HIPPA apply to medical type offices?

Plus there is probably an added clause in the contract you signed off on to share info.

And since we are in a pandemic emergency time, contact tracing procedures supercedes anything related to HIPPA privacy law. Either way, the contact tracers are not employees with any of your personal doctors offices or health insurance company. Totally separate entities. Contact tracers are not under the HIPPA umbrella of privacy.

 

Now if you tested positive at your doctor's office, and they (and insurance company reps) started to phone your neighbors, family and friends, to warm them, that would be a HIPPA violation.

[karma459]

20 minutes ago, d-train said:

Not only that, but doesn't HIPPA apply to medical type offices?

Plus there is probably an added clause in the contract you signed off on to share info.

And since we are in a pandemic emergency time, contact tracing procedures supercedes anything related to HIPPA privacy law. Either way, the contact tracers are not employees with any of your personal doctors offices or health insurance company. Totally separate entities. Contact tracers are not under the HIPPA umbrella of privacy.

 

Now if you tested positive at your doctor's office, and they (and insurance company reps) started to phone your neighbors, family and friends, to warm them, that would be a HIPPA violation.

 

this is incorrect. 

HIPPA laws cover well beyond information from your doctor's office or practitioners.

 

For example, I work for a global software company. One of our customers is a US based insurance provider. We do not handle patient information in any way, however we are bound by HIPPA laws and as such, we must all take mandatory, annual compliance training and certification. Basically any entity that can be defined as a "third party" that in anyway interacts with another party that directly or indirectly has access to protected identifying or medical information is bound to HIPPA policies and guidelines.

 

HIPPA laws protect US Citizens or those doing business as a US based company. So, US Citizen, Legal Aliens, etc, passengers would be protected under HIPPA, but not necessarily non- US based Carnival employees. 

 

As I understand it, the most Carnival *could* do is inform you that you have been identified as "close contact" to an infected person. They can give no identifying information, including if that were another passenger, on-shore personnel, terminal personnel, or on-board crew. 

I don't think they will, and neither do the airlines, ride shares, trains, buses, cabs, etc that you may have used as means of transportation to/from port. 

Of all the potential places of contact/transmission from the time an individual walks out their front door until the time they step back into it, I'd say the possibility of definitively determining where/how you "became" infected is pretty close to zero. It's a risk you take! 

 

 

[beerman2]

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

You do realize that HIPAA does not apply outside the US?

I was thinking US waters/ports when I posted. Also hadn’t had my 1st cup of coffee yet😂!

[Elaine5715]

7 hours ago, beerman2 said:

I would think that would be a Hippa (sic) violation. 

 

5 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

I agree.
 

And I know from my kids’ restaurant jobs that they don’t notify the diners if waitstaff test positive. They don’t meet the time requirement. No one spends 15 min straight at a table.

HIPAA only applies when health insurance is involved

[beerman2]

3 minutes ago, Elaine5715 said:

 

HIPAA only applies when health insurance is involved

It does apply to health care providers!

[chengkp75]

26 minutes ago, beerman2 said:

I was thinking US waters/ports when I posted. Also hadn’t had my 1st cup of coffee yet😂!

 

18 minutes ago, beerman2 said:

It does apply to health care providers!

Correct, but only US health care providers and insurance. Even if you think that Carnival is a US company,  the medical staff are contractors. 

[syesmar]

I am curious if when rooms are cleaned, are the doors still left open to the hallways? And if it’s a balcony room, do the room stewards have the door to the balcony outside open while cleaning? Thanks!

Edited January 3, 2022 by syesmar

[Guest BasicSailor]

5 minutes ago, syesmar said:

I am curious if when rooms are cleaned, are the doors still left open to the hallways? And if it’s a balcony room, do the room stewards have the door to the balcony outside open while cleaning? Thanks!

Cabin doors are left opened then closed after cleaning. Balcony doors are open for cleaning then closed. Not at the same time.

Edited January 3, 2022 by BasicSailor

[chengkp75]

8 minutes ago, syesmar said:

I am curious if when rooms are cleaned, are the doors still left open to the hallways? And if it’s a balcony room, do the room stewards have the door to the balcony outside open while cleaning? Thanks!

If the balcony door and passageway door are open at the same time, it creates a wind tunnel in the cabin, and everything not bolted down is blown out the balcony door.  Cabins are normally kept at a slightly positive pressure with regards to the passageways, so if the doors are left open, air flow is from the cabin out to the passageway, if you are concerned about viral transmission during cleaning.