Thursday, April 18, 2024

Norovirus Cases On Cruise Ships Skyrocket: Heres Why And How To Avoid Getting Sick

cruise ships with norovirus outbreaks

Silver Nova from Silversea Cruises has a gastrointestinal outbreak onboard but no delays have been reported for her next cruise. The federal agency recommends that people avoid cruise travel if they are at increased risk of severe illness, regardless of vaccination status. Should you be worried about catching norovirus or another gastrointestinal illness when you cruise? The CDC says cruises account for some of the lowest case numbers in the U.S. annually.

Outbreaks 2012 reports

The design and operation of cruise ships often involve large groups of people living in close proximity, sharing dining areas, entertainment spaces, and public restrooms. This makes it easy for norovirus to spread rapidly from person to person. The virus is commonly spread through direct contact with an infected person, consuming contaminated food or water, or touching surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus. One of the main challenges in containing norovirus is its ability to survive on various surfaces for a significant amount of time, making it easy to pick up unknowingly.

cruise ships with norovirus outbreaks

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Norovirus Outbreaks Surge on Cruises: Here's How to Avoid the Bug - TODAY

Norovirus Outbreaks Surge on Cruises: Here's How to Avoid the Bug.

Posted: Thu, 13 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Virus outbreak news speaks of a lack of proper hygiene control, badly trained staff, bad ship management. The whole responsibility goes to the shipowner (cruise line company) and its management. VSP (abbrev "Vessel Sanitation Program") monitors CDC's observations on illness patterns for GI (gastrointestinal) outbreaks on passenger shipping vessels (ferries and cruise ships). Norovirus on ships is spread through contaminated water, foods and surfaces (public restrooms, railings, doorknobs, handles, board games-cards-puzzles-toys, etc).

cruise ships with norovirus outbreaks

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But that is still less than one-fifth the number of hospitalizations reported in late August due to the delta wave. Additionally, the CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program, implemented in the 1970s, subjects all passenger ships carrying 13 or more people to random, unannounced inspections if they wish to call on ports in the United States. The outbreak was reported one day before the “Easter” themed cruise was scheduled to end. According to the cruise line, its next sailing to Grand Turk and Bimini on October 13 proceeded as scheduled. The Vessel Sanitation Program under the CDC will continue monitoring the situation, including the ship’s response to the outbreak and sanitation measures. The CDC said sick guests were isolated in their staterooms, and Silversea has implemented more stringent deep cleaning and disinfection measures.

The spray is chemical-free, odourless, transparent and can be applied to all surfaces. There's nothing like a stomach virus to ruin your vacation, as hundreds of cruise ship passengers have unfortunately learned this year. The outbreak aboard the 54,700-gross-ton Silver Nova, which just entered service in August 2023 and was officially christened in January 2024, is not the first illness reported to the CDC so far this year. Increased cleaning and disinfection protocols have also been implemented onboard, particularly for high-contact surfaces and public areas.

Cruise Ship Illness: Why Are Ships So Prone to Norovirus Outbreaks?

Some of the world's most famous passenger ships are listed in the virus outbreak statistics, yet one hears so little of it in mass media news. And there is no surprise in that since the "cruise illness" news are nothing but bad publicity for the companies - which is bad for a prosperous multi-billion dollar sea travel vacation business. All major cruise line companies will do their best to keep quiet about virus outbreaks on their ships. There are passenger testimonials about quarantined ships and how badly guests have been treated by the line.

Florida hit a new record for daily cases on Tuesday with 46,900 new cases in a day. Since Christmas, the state's 7-day average of daily cases has surpassed previous records set during last summer's surge, rising to 29,400 infections. The ship includes multiple kitchens, grills and even an interactive space where guests can cook with Compton. Introduced in 2023, the Silver Nova boasts butler service for every suite, one crew member for every 1.3 guests and “outstanding gastronomy” — it even welcomed “Top Chef’s” Nina Compton to its ranks at the end of last year. Psychology Today, a Substack entitled "Minded by Science" and have written articles for The New York Times, Time, The Guardian, The HuffPost, STAT, the MIT Technology Review and others.

The number of outbreaks in the first six months of 2023 is higher than the yearly total during every year since 2012, when there were 16 outbreaks on cruise ships reported to the CDC. Cruise ships publish daily health and safety instructions to their passengers on how to avoid mosquito bites. Zika symptoms are fever, skin rash, pain in joints, conjunctivitis (pink eye). Other possible actions and results are red level ("Code Red") cleaning.

Nearly 30 Silverseas cruise passengers fall ill with diarrhea at sea

Silver Nova Experiences Gastrointestinal Outbreak as the Silversea Cruises' Luxury Cruise Ship Sails to Fort Lauderdale - Cruise Law News

Silver Nova Experiences Gastrointestinal Outbreak as the Silversea Cruises' Luxury Cruise Ship Sails to Fort Lauderdale.

Posted: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 19:14:58 GMT [source]

You can get norovirus from an infected person, from contaminated food or water, or by touching contaminated surfaces. The virus causes your stomach or intestines or both to get inflamed (acute gastroenteritis). This leads you to have stomach pain, nausea, and diarrhea and to throw up. The following statistics show the number of cruise ship illness outbreaks in recent years. You can compare the number of reports (CDC and news media sources) and the total number of infected (passengers and crew).

In 2014, the number of reported illness outbreaks on cruise ships was 17. The total number of infected was 3559 (of those 3354 passengers and 205 crew). In 2015, the number of reported illness outbreaks on cruise ships was 23.

For instance, medical officers are required to maintain illness incident counts for each voyage that involves a stop at an American port. They are also required to communicate to the CDC, within 24 hours of arrival at a U.S. port, "the number of passengers and crew members who reported diarrhea to the ship's medical staff" during that voyage. Norovirus cases aboard cruise ships were on a steady decline between 2006 and 2019, according to CDC data. When the Covid pandemic hit, the CDC made a travel health notice advising against cruise ship travel. Because of this, there were no norovirus outbreaks in 2020 and 2021.

Purchasing cruise travel insurance with health coverage (medical clauses) is highly recommended. A cruise ship's medical facility can treat only passengers experiencing minor health issues - seasickness, scrapes, sunburns, etc. More severe medical emergencies can't be handled on the ship and usually require medevacs.

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