Liveaboard Covid quarantine- Debate

[dianna912]

Assuming that they are not in a locality that requires it, should liveaboards require guests who test positive to quarantine?

We just got back from a highly infectious liveaboard that DID have this requirement. With at least 70% of the guests infected, welp, it's safe to say it didn't work.

My thought process is this: unless you require an extremely harsh, any symptoms=quarantine type of policy, which is untenable on a dive boat. (Congestion/ear issues/fatigue/achiness are all symptoms of a long dive day) you will never stop it before it has already spread. I understand that boats want to protect their crew, but quarantining guests is just a feel-good measure to allow everyone to carry on as usual, except of the souls locked in a tiny room. This is what happened on our boat. No changes to anything were made until we started dropping like flies. The first couple that had it just got stuck in their room, while the crew did not mask around the other guests, everyone still ate in the same closed galley (except the quarantined couple) and it was all for absolutely nothing.

When we boarded the Juliet last March and they said: if one of us has it, all of us will, I thought they were being irresponsible. Now, I'm thinking they are correct.

My opinion: either take the "let er rip" strategy of the Juliet or have a policy that completely changes protocols, for everyone, the moment someone tests positive. No congregating in closed spaces, masks on all staff and guests when not eating, etc, etc.

 

[waterone]

Let me help: I think the mask and vaccine should be mandatory on a liveaboard

Since it is easily spread vaxxed or not, I am not at all concerned about someone's vax status. If someone is overly worried due to mental or actual health conditions, vax up, stay home or both.


Any mandatory vax requirements like the Scubaboard invasions doesn't do much to stop anyone from spreading covid........ obviously. I

 

[Centrals]

Any mandatory vax requirements like the Scubaboard invasions does nothing to stop anyone from getting covid........ obviously. I

Vaccination will not stop everyone from getting Covid but it allows them to enter many countries.

 

[tursiops]

Vaccination will not stop everyone from getting Covid but it allows them to enter many countries.

And it is helping in keeping you being hospitalized.

 

[Centrals]

And it is helping in keeping you being hospitalized.

There are a lot of peoples do not believe in that so I leave it aside.
My point is very simple: no vax = no entry to many countries at the moment eg. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, the most popular diving destination in SE Asia.

 

[tridacna]

There are a lot of peoples do not believe in that so I leave it aside.
My point is very simple: no vax = no entry to many countries at the moment eg. Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, the most popular diving destination in SE Asia.

A “lot of people” believe that the earth is flat too.

The most important reason to get vaccinated is to keep you from being hospitalized or dying. Visiting SE Asia is a bonus.

COVID-19 vaccines reduce hospitalization, death in people with prior infection, study finds

Two-dose COVID-19 vaccines significantly increase protection against hospitalization and death in people who had the illness before they were immunized.

med.stanford.edu

 

[Darnold9999]

A “lot of people” believe that the earth is flat too.

The most important reason to get vaccinated is to keep you from being hospitalized or dying. Visiting SE Asia is a bonus.

COVID-19 vaccines reduce hospitalization, death in people with prior infection, study finds

Two-dose COVID-19 vaccines significantly increase protection against hospitalization and death in people who had the illness before they were immunized.

med.stanford.edu

… and I would really rather not have my trip interrupted so someone unvaccinated can get rushed to hospital.

 

[waterone]

Vaccination will not stop everyone from getting Covid but it allows them to enter many countries.

You are right, it doesn't nor the spread. Yes, you can enter many countries after jumping through hoops and still and catch and spread covid, then get stuck again with jumping through their other hoops.

Vaccinated or not, I would rather stick to countries that are not overly controlling about it.

The most important reason to get vaccinated is to keep you from being hospitalized or dying.

True, if you are more likely to be hospitalized or die from it.

The Journal of the American Heart Association states that most hospitalizations are due to one or more of the below conditions.

Studies show that certain common medical conditions put people at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19. These include metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes and obesity, as well as heart conditions like high blood pressure (hypertension) and heart failure. People with these four conditions are more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.

… and I would really rather not have my trip interrupted so someone unvaccinated can get rushed to hospital.

If someone needs to go to the hospital for whatever reason, it is what it is. On a liveaboard its more likely that if anyone needs to go to a hospital it's not because of covid.

 

[BlueTrin]

My first comment wasn’t serious.

But more seriously I think vaccines would help but it’s less likely that the boat has to go back for a severe case. As an added bonus, the person catching covid has less chances to have to give up diving, but that’s a moot point because this is a factor only affecting that person.

For the mask, I don’t believe it’s practical to force guests to wear one whatever.

In such a close environment don’t know if that would make a lot of difference to clean all shared surfaces more often.

 

[drrich2]

I would prefer everyone vaccinated but no testing (though people are free to test themselves with at-home style tests; if they do, and test positive, well...). Here's my thinking...

1.) What the OP describes as the Juliet's approach sounds good until someone is confirmed earlier in a trip to have COVID-19 via testing, another customer subsequently becomes ill, is determined to have COVID-19, is one of the small minority who get severely ill, and is either permanently crippled (e.g.: from kidney failure) or dead. The Captain knowingly allowed a person with a known highly contagious potentially fatal disease free access to the boat and other patrons, and one of them subsequently sickened and died, leaving a desperately grieving widow, etc...

Never mind any of our personal preferences in terms of what we think 'should' happen; potential legal liability and lawyers dictating the requirements for insurance policies may have more say in this than we do.

There is a lot of pressure on the authority figure to quarantine known active COVID-19 cases.

2.) Confirming cases also makes it harder to get on planes and fly home. This one may be contentious, but if you've got mild, non-specific symptoms, you might fly home with a pretty clear conscious. Get tested, and subsequently you're worried about knowingly putting other people at risk, but may be stuck in a foreign country for extended quarantine (and you may not be sure how they'll deal with you).

3.) The close quarters of liveaboards make contagiousness more an issue and harder to avoid, and the small staterooms make quarantine confinement more unpleasant.

4.) Scuba divers tend to skew a bit older and male relative to the general population, from what I understand, and many Americans (including me) are obese, so as a broad demographic we average a bit higher risk for death from SARS-CoV-2 than average.

5.) The 'Law of Unintended Consequences' must be factored in. In a perfect world, perhaps there'd be readily available and highly encouraged voluntary testing available at all times, ill people would have very low thresholds to seek testing, and quarantining would be encouraged but never coerced.

We don't live in that perfect world. If it becomes known you're positive, you are likely to lose a substantial amount of control over your circumstances for awhile.

If. How you react to that 'if' is up to you.

 

[waterone]

But more seriously I think vaccines would help but it’s less likely that the boat has to go back for a severe case.

During the initial wave of Omicron-

NYC was one of the first areas in the US to get hit with Omicron. During the week ending January 15, 0.6% of all unvaccinated people were hospitalized with COVID-19 , compared with 0.02% of all vaccinated people.

While the unvaxxed are indeed MUCH more likely to be hospitalized, 29 times more likely with the above numbers (primarily due to age and health), this was still only an uptick of .58% for the unvaccinated in a large city.

I'm still in the boat with my first post, no test, no quarantine and just dive and enjoy your trip and expect to catch it if someone else has it. If someone is concerned about covid (for whatever reason), stop worrying about others vax status and get vaxxed or stay home as you will eventually catch it, likely multiple times.