Not a good sign for cruise ship industry return before vaccine

[ggunn]

You'd never get me onto a cruise ship these days. Not that you ever would in the Before Times, but still...

 

[mikeycanuk]

You'd never get me onto a cruise ship these days. Not that you ever would in the Before Times, but still...

Same. They were Petri dishes before. Will be nice to be back in coz sans ships.

 

[ggunn]

Same. They were Petri dishes before. Will be nice to be back in coz sans ships.

Yes. Realistically, until the pandemic is driven down to where the risk, not only personal but from a public health perspective, is down in the noise, the cruise ship industry is on hiatus. There's no point in spending the money to send those boats out with conditions as they are. Time to hunker.

I am pleasantly surprised and cautiously optimistic to hear of the reported efficacy of the frontrunners in the vaccine race. Effective vaccination would turn things around for everyone, with the good and the bad that comes with that.

 

[nwflyboy]

Effective vaccination would turn things around for everyone, with the good and the bad that comes with that.

There's a gigantic assumption here: that those vaccinated can't/don't pass on the virus to others. We don't know that yet, probably won't for a while. It's critical. If you get vaccinated but can still be a carrier (entirely possible) then things won't get back to "normal" until EVERYONE has been vaccinated, until the entire planet (or at least entire countries) reach herd immunity. That could take a long time.

If, on the other hand, being vaccinated both protects you from the virus, and protects others from you, then it's Happy Days Are Here Again. A lot is riding on that. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

 

[ggunn]

I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed.

Yo tambien. It wasn't an assumption but a hope; effective vaccination would of course need to be preventative of asymptomatic spreading as well as illness to be truly effective. What I do assume, though, is that the large scale trials used testing that would detect asymptomatic carriers as well as sick people, so I am cautiously optimistic.

 

[shoredivr]

this sounds odd to me. i can only assume that whatever protocols were put in place were faulty or not executed properly.

my humble opinion.....if a passenger is required to submit a negative test result "X" number of days prior to boarding, if secondary screening is done while boarding, every crew member provided a negative test and has isolated on board well before any passengers are allowed on, and if social distancing, hand sanitizing, and mask wearing is practiced on board, then how do you get an "out break" ?

Because you can get the virus the next hour or next day after the test was taken, before you get out on the cruise. The test does not confer immunity.

 

[ggunn]

Because you can get the virus the next hour or next day after the test was taken, before you get out on the cruise The test does not confer immunity.

And it's all a question of statistics and probabilities. If there is a 1 in 1000 chance that what you describe has happened, and you allow 5000 or more passengers to board, and a single infected person can spread it to many others in the closed environment of a cruise ship, the math is not good.

 

[ReefHound]

There's a gigantic assumption here: that those vaccinated can't/don't pass on the virus to others. We don't know that yet, probably won't for a while. It's critical. If you get vaccinated but can still be a carrier (entirely possible) then things won't get back to "normal" until EVERYONE has been vaccinated, until the entire planet (or at least entire countries) reach herd immunity. That could take a long time.

Why don't we know that? There have been thousands of vaccine test subjects. Check to see if they are shedding live virus.

 

[mediumone]

Why don't we know that? There have been thousands of vaccine test subjects. Check to see if they are shedding live virus.

Excellent question.

In the latest issue of TIME magazine that I received, Nov 30/Dec 7, there is an article entitled "What to Know About Vaccines", where 10 questions were posed.
The last question was "Will I still have to wear a mask after I get vaccinated"?

"Yes. Studies so far show only that the vaccines can protect against getting sick with the disease, and may not prevent being infected with the virus. So it's important to still follow all the public-health measures that throw up an invisible wall against the coronavirus. Even if you're immunized, you can still get infected with the virus and therefore pass it on to others. That's why even as more and more people get vaccinated, health officials will continue to ask you to wear a mask in public, practice social distancing and avoid large indoor gatherings. Those basic behaviors will remain critical in keeping the virus from finding new hosts."

Inasmuch as I'm not a physician or have any advanced degree in any of the supporting disciplines supporting epidemiology, I won't editorialize.

 

[ggunn]

Excellent question.

In the latest issue of TIME magazine that I received, Nov 30/Dec 7, there is an article entitled "What to Know About Vaccines", where 10 questions were posed.
The last question was "Will I still have to wear a mask after I get vaccinated"?

"Yes. Studies so far show only that the vaccines can protect against getting sick with the disease, and may not prevent being infected with the virus. So it's important to still follow all the public-health measures that throw up an invisible wall against the coronavirus. Even if you're immunized, you can still get infected with the virus and therefore pass it on to others. That's why even as more and more people get vaccinated, health officials will continue to ask you to wear a mask in public, practice social distancing and avoid large indoor gatherings. Those basic behaviors will remain critical in keeping the virus from finding new hosts."

Inasmuch as I'm not a physician or have any advanced degree in any of the supporting disciplines supporting epidemiology, I won't editorialize.

While everyone wants a swift and decisive end to the pandemic through the development and deployment of vaccines, there are, of course, still a lot of unknowns at this point in the process. While it is true that it isn't known that the vaccines now on the verge of deployment will curtail the spread of the virus by asymptomatic carriers, that isn't the same as knowing that they won't. I remain cautiously optimistic, but I acknowledge that patience is necessary.