Title. Apparently there is a cruise ship quarantined right now because of this. And a guy at work was telling me some of the staff escaped? Not sure what exactly is going on but is it cause for concern?

  • einkorn@feddit.org
    491·
    20 hours ago

    No need to panic. The virus is rarely transmitted from human to human or via air.

    Cruise ships are a hot bed for diseases though: Many people in a confined space going to places with diseases that their body has no resistance against. So your best protection is simply not going near the ship.

    On the topic of staff escaping: Given that the ship hasn’t been able to dock so far I highly doubt that’s true.

    • vrek@programming.devEnglish
      25·
      19 hours ago

      I agree but to give some context to the staff escaping, this probably was started because one of the people airvaced to a hospital was a staff member. They didn’t “escape” they got sick and needed emergency medical treatment. I can believe someone heard a staff member was no longer on board and warped that into staff “escaping”.

      • FireRetardant@lemmy.world
        7·
        18 hours ago

        this source claims

        Authorities in Switzerland also said a former passenger who tested positive was being treated at a Zurich hospital. The passenger had left the ship at St Helena and it was unclear how he had travelled to Switzerland or which countries he might have passed through. Swiss authorities insisted there was “no risk” to the public

        It also claims

        But a limited spread among close contacts has been observed in some previous outbreaks with the Andes strain, which has spread in South America, including Argentina, where the cruise trip started in March.

    • Pamasich@kbin.earth
      1·
      10 hours ago

      The virus is rarely transmitted from human to human or via air.

      If this is the case, then why was quarantine necessary to stop the spread in previous outbreaks? Referring to this:

      The strain demonstrated a high capacity for sustained transmission among the human population requiring the implementation of quarantine measures, rigorous contact tracing, isolation of close contacts, and active clinical monitoring to prevent further spread.

    • Starya67@lemmy.world
      3·
      13 hours ago

      One of the women who got infected (she knew, her husband had already died and she was very ill) got onto a plane to Johannesburg and died in Johannesburg.

      • einkorn@feddit.org
        1·
        13 hours ago

        Did she get on a commercial plane by herself or was this a planned airlift to a hospital, though?

        • bstix@feddit.dk
          4·
          11 hours ago

          It was a commercial flight with 80 passengers. WHO is searching for them.

          Also, another patient from the ship is in a hospital in Switzerland. I have no idea how they got there, but I think it’s safe to say that the ship has not been isolated to begin with.

          • Starya67@lemmy.world
            1·
            9 hours ago

            And a German is being airlifted to Düsseldorf, a Dutch person to somewhere in the Netherlands and a Brit to Britain.

            This entire thing would not have been a problem whatsoever if the ship had been quarantined and stayed quarantined. Something similar happened in 2018 and thanks to the measures taken only 30 people got infected.

    • RecursiveParadox@piefed.socialEnglish
      2·
      13 hours ago

      Updoot for calm approach, but it does appear that, at least in one case on the cruise ship herself, one passenger transmitted it to another.

      NO claim it was airborne though. Could have been clothing, shared food, a zillion different vectors.

      • einkorn@feddit.org
        3·
        12 hours ago

        Yes, there has been human to human transmission, however as I wrote it rarely happens. Of course, close contact like in a cruise ship full of people is going to increase the risk.

    • aburrito@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      18 hours ago

      Allegedly this one is confirmed to transmit humans to human (South Africa found it to be the case I believe?) and there’s cases in like Switzerland, it’s not like the disease spontaneously formed and then they quarantined they’ve been getting on and off the boats for weeks before they stopped