Covid Tests

[waterone]

The nice lady down the street who was fit died from it and she seemed "healthy" too. If you didn't die from it, then be glad but that fate is far from certain.

Seeming healthy and being healthy are two different things. I know someone who looks like they could physically define "healthy" but isn't.

Either way dying from having covid is still not likely for most.

If the op you were thinking about booking is Nautilus, then, yes, this is their usual practice...test before boarding. I've been on 2 trips with them during covid. The testing was a PITA. The actual practice of safety protocol was a joke once on board. I'm staying off liveaboards for awhile.

Why do you feel the safety protocol once on board was a joke?

 

[Dark Wolf]

<a positive COVID test did not even remotely mean they were "staring death in the face">>

Over a million people died from it in the US alone. That number is not minor. The nice lady down the street who was fit died from it and she seemed "healthy" too. If you didn't die from it, then be glad but that fate is far from certain.

The issue from the very beginning and still is that you cannot precisely define who will die from it. Some people get few symptoms, some die from it. Very young to very old, and in between, fat or fit. The company doesn't want their employees getting COVID or dealing with a boat full of people getting it so they are doing basic diligence to try to avoid that.

I don't know, a 99.7% recovery rate seems pretty good to me.

Of course, we all make our own decisions, for our own reasons.

DW

 

[Joneill]

<a positive COVID test did not even remotely mean they were "staring death in the face">>

Over a million people died from it in the US alone. That number is not minor. The nice lady down the street who was fit died from it and she seemed "healthy" too. If you didn't die from it, then be glad but that fate is far from certain.

The issue from the very beginning and still is that you cannot precisely define who will die from it. Some people get few symptoms, some die from it. Very young to very old, and in between, fat or fit. The company doesn't want their employees getting COVID or dealing with a boat full of people getting it so they are doing basic diligence to try to avoid that.

Pretty disingenuous of you to leave out the highlighted part below and selectively quote me when what I actually posted was:

“My point was that, for the vast majority of people, a positive COVID test did not even remotely mean they were "staring death in the face" as you claimed”

And I stand by that as fact… which in no way is trying to minimize the impact it had on some - I was just correcting the broadly sensationalized original claim!

 

[Shasta_man]

I made no conscious effort to leave out your highlighted part because it made little difference to your claim. It's the same claim.

My point was that while, yes, not everyone was dying immediately, your description skews toward it was no big deal. The use of the words "vast majority", "remotely" and now "sensationalized" supports that. At a million deaths and 6 million worldwide, I maintain it was more than no big deal. It's still killing people and we're still getting it. And deaths aren't the only serious consequences that happened so I think describing it as only seriously affecting a small percentage of people is understating the threat. That's a problem to me because people already question public health concerns (WTF?!) so your suggestion to me is only half a step away from don't do anything about it.

 

[Joneill]

I made no conscious effort to leave out your highlighted part because it made little difference to your claim. It's the same claim.

My point was that while, yes, not everyone was dying immediately, your description skews toward it was no big deal. The use of the words "vast majority", "remotely" and now "sensationalized" supports that. At a million deaths and 6 million worldwide, I maintain it was more than no big deal. It's still killing people and we're still getting it. And deaths aren't the only serious consequences that happened so I think describing it as only seriously affecting a small percentage of people is understating the threat. That's a problem to me because people already question public health concerns (WTF?!) so your suggestion to me is only half a step away from don't do anything about it.

Well now I know you are a liar as you had to consciously leave out part of my post when you quoted me. I have no interest in further dialogue with your type - ignore.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Ooh, just saw this--another Covid and liveaboards thread. Here's a copy of my opinion from the one in July that focused more on quarantine requirements than testing:

My conclusion about liveaboards in the age of Covid is that it's a major crapshoot. You are really playing the odds no matter what protocols the boat puts in place.

My preference would be for passengers to quarantine BEFORE they get on the boat. You sit in a hotel room for some number of days before setting sail, and get PCR tested before going straight to the dock, donning your N95 mask until you're on the boat.

And since that is impractical--we're not astronauts going to the moon--that is why I have been reluctant to take a liveaboard since the Covid pandemic began. When I finally caught Covid a few months ago my symptoms were flu-like and would have prevented me from diving for several days. I was very glad I was not on a boat because I felt like crap for several days. I don't want my dive vacation ruined by getting Covid, and if I happen to get Covid again and suffer "mild" symptoms as I did, I would like to be able to go home or at least hole up in a comfy hotel room, not a boat cabin. Right now, the odds are too high for my liking to do a liveaboard.

 

[waterone]

Ooh, just saw this--another Covid and liveaboards thread.

Here's a copy of my opinion from the one in July that focused more on quarantine requirements than testing:

I was supposed to go on a short liveaboard in early July. That one was out of California and was to have no testing at all. But They had a kitchen fiasco 2 days before, and the boat couldn't go out. I would have brought my own sack lunches for a few days. Ended up heading up to Washington instead.

 

[Dan]

I love liveaboard trips and I’m retired in August 2020. So I have plenty of time to go on these trips.

I have been on 16 dive trips with 14 of them were on liveaboards, since December 2020. Never contracted Covid until last June in Cuba. That’s when we no longer need to get Covid test before going home to USA. So I didn’t know that I had it until I got home and the case was so mild, no fever, no loss of taste, nor smell, just runny nose, little tired & occasional coughing for a week. Perhaps the 2 vaccine shots (Moderna) & 2 booster shots (Pfizer) helped minimize the severity of the illness.

I may have been a little careless after coming back from so many trips without contracting Covid. Contracting it in June brought me back to be vigilant in following the Covid protocols.

The situation won’t slow me down in going on liveaboard trips. I’ll be on 8 liveaboard trips from next week to February 2023 (Cocos, Galapagos 2x, Banda Sea, Raja Ampat, Visayas 2x, Similan).

 

[tursiops]

I was just correcting the broadly sensationalized original claim!

There was no sensationalized claim. Staring death in the face does NOT mean died, except those who twist other people's words to support their own claims.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I have been on 16 dive trips with 14 of them were on liveaboards, since December 2020. Never contracted Covid until last June in Cuba. That’s when we no longer need to get Covid test before going home to USA. So I didn’t know that I had it until I got home and the case was so mild, no fever, no loss of taste, nor smell, just runny nose, little tired & occasional coughing for a week. Perhaps the 2 vaccine shots (Moderna) & 2 booster shots (Pfizer) helped minimize the severity of the illness.

I suppose it's even possible that in addition to the effect of the vaccines/boosters, your immunity might have been strengthened by a number of periodic exposures to small amounts of virus in the past couple of years while you were traveling for all those trips. I pretty much lived under a rock for most of that time, and although I got all the vaccine doses I was entitled to, when I finally ventured out and took a trip (Caribbean) I sure enough caught a nicely symptomatic case of covid.

And I want a pension like you must have! Fourteen liveaboards?!