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Passengers confined to cabins after Singapore cruise ship detects COVID-19

39 Comments
By John Geddie

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© Thomson Reuters 2020.

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It was a false alarm.

The passenger in question has tested negative twice once the ship returned to Singapore.

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/24024-quantum-guest-retests-negative-for-covid-next-cruise-called-off.html

2 ( +2 / -0 )

IDIOTS !!!!

Another case of CASH V CARE

Care loser again !!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

"I can understand why people want to take a break from the pressures of living there, even if it’s a trip to nowhere."

Before casino's were allowed in SG and Marina Bay Sands came up, cruise ships with 'trips to nowhere' served the purpose of taking the guests in international waters and allowing them to indulge in gambling, dance shows and other seedier stuff which they could otherwise not experience in the conservative city state.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

@reckless

That would be a nightmare confined to a small cabin with no windows or fresh air.

You can't currently book a cruise with no balcony. Capacity limited to 50% and all guests are assigned balcony cabins even if you booked an interior cabin.

@rainyday

Who in their right mind would get on a cruise ship right now anyway?

Well, 200K people volunteered to go on a test cruise in the US.

https://www.traveloffpath.com/more-than-200000-volunteer-for-free-royal-caribbean-test-cruises/

@Ego Sum Lux Mundi

Let the Singaporeans experience the fun of dealing with this nonsense.

This is a different cruise line. All prior cruise ship outbreaks happened onboard Carnival ships including the Diamond Princess, which had a notoriously lax handling procedure.

@Zoroto

Since Singapore hasn't had a non-imported case for a couple of weeks, it's very puzzling how the passenger got infected.

Same as in Japan, non-testing to keep the count low.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why on earth would anyone go on a cruise liner now? Am I allowed to laugh at the situation?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Being stuck on a ship docked in Singapore would really suck!

Seems like the perfect place to get a good, confined, vaccine test for all of the pharma companies. Vaccinate the crew and 50 cabins near the people who tested positive first, then spread out. Use a mix of the vaccines, say 1000 of each type.

I've sailed on a huge RC ship, Freedom of the Seas, in an interior cabin (great view for all the parades) but we aren't crazy enough to go now. I found the RC itineraries which limit time in port and force passengers to be on the ship usually from 6p until 10am less than satisfying. RC strives to avoid overnight dock fees, so they'd rather leave nightly, travel in circles nearby, going nowhere, than let passengers enjoy the port too long.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Patience everyone. Hang tough for another eight or nine months, until enough of the world's people are vaccinated. A little adult restraint now pays dividends down the road.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

@jijitsu

I agree with you!

Therefore I like to discuss with Virusrex.

I also think he has a biological or medical background.

He is one of the few posters, whos post I take serious, even we have sometimes different opinions.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Nuts

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@Virusrex

Clearly, you know something about microbiology... Your posts are good, science based and enlightening.

I suppose you work in one of the many fields associated with pathology....

Keep posting sensible stuff like this without bothering much about the reaction of many others who don't know the basics of biology...

Always a pleasure to read your posts.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

The desire for the pandemic to be over has come face to face with the reality that it is not, in fact, over.

People want to go back to cruising, to hanging out in crowded bars, to having parties with their friends. I get it. But it is not yet safe to go back to the way things were before the pandemic, no matter how much wishful thinking we engage in.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Wow! I have to conduct two testsplus a self isolation for a couple of days just to make sure that I am not infected?

No, the isolation is to avoid exposing other people while you still don't know if you are infected, it should be obvious that the isolation contributes absolutely nothing to the possibility of detecting the virus. Do you really ignore that much about this? its been a whole year where the process is endlessly repeated everywhere.

I gave you an extreme example where a person wants to know as soon as possible after exposure, it seems you are having a lot of trouble understanding this but the test is not some kind of magical process that gives a "positive" result exactly the moment a person is infected. Every biological process requires time, and that includes producing enough viruses to be detected.

You also seem to assume tests are supposed to have 100% fidelity, that is not true. X-rays will fail to detect fractures, glycemia determinations sometimes fail to detect diabetes in a patient, PCR tests sometimes will not be able to find the virus nucleic acids, especially if done when the virus has not yet replicated enough, that is normal and part of the expectations. For the average person (that understand magic is not involved in the process) the test is extremely reliable, and for a population being tested the rates will also closely reflect reality. What is not realistic to expect is for test (and specially single tests) to detect every single case from a population, so they cannot be used (by themselves) to guarantee that no outbreaks will happen when you crowd people in the same location.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Some harsh comments here, but a cruise would be low on my list of priorities.

Then again it’s Singapore.

I love the place for a visit, but it is an oversized city, and can be claustrophobic - my Singaporean friends can testify to this.

Given this, I can understand why people want to take a break from the pressures of living there, even if it’s a ‘trip to nowhere.’

-2 ( +4 / -6 )

so if you suspect you have been exposed you should wait at least a couple of days (while in isolation) before being tested, and to be sure test again a couple of days later (or as soon as you have symptoms).

Wow! I have to conduct two tests plus a self isolation for a couple of days just to make sure that I am not infected?

Man, you should tell that in the article about the 500 cases and low tests here at JT.

I am very curious what the people will say.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

That means if I want to know, if I am infected or not, to take a test makes zero sense, right?

No, that means that taking a test the same day you were exposed makes zero sense, so if you suspect you have been exposed you should wait at least a couple of days (while in isolation) before being tested, and to be sure test again a couple of days later (or as soon as you have symptoms).

Even without repeated tests the vast majority of the patients will be detected by PCR while in the acute phase, but what is not possible is to be sure you get every single infected person even if you test them all.

1 ( +6 / -5 )

More like the cruise to the hospital.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Not exactly, a person do not become instantly positive to the tests when he is infected

But that means, if I want to know if I am infected, I take the test, the result IS negative, but even a negative result come out, I can be positive?

That means if I want to know, if I am infected or not, to take a test makes zero sense, right?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

That means that this Guy or maybe somebody else got infected within these three days.

Not exactly, a person do not become instantly positive to the tests when he is infected, the case may have been infected days earlier, be tested still during the window of time where the virus still has not replicated to numbers enough to be detected and appear as negative.

Testing is very good to assess the situation of a population, but not to exclude cases from a situation where they could expose others. Aggressively testing and screening people still leaves the possibility that anyone is infected.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Thanks for the link, Zoroto.

The Straits Times article still doesn't question the efficacy of the test, it just says:

The World Dream's safety regime includes a new real-time PCR machine on board that yields Covid-19 test results in 60 minutes. PCR tests are the most accurate ones for Covid-19 available.

This doesn't rule out the possibility that the man's symptoms were something else entirely. The article says the man had a PCR test before boarding, but doesn't say how long. The day before, a week before?

Too little useful information to draw a proper conclusion.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Was it a false positive due to picking up traces of another virus? These PCR tests aren't infallible, and the man may have been ill due to another cause - diarrhea is a symptom, but not an indicator of COVID-19 by itself.

As usual, this story is long on hype and short on detail.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

 it's very puzzling how the passenger got infected.

Here I have to agree with Zoroto.

This is a good example and proof to what I said in many of my earlier posts.

A test is just for the moment.

This guy and all other people on board got tested 3 days in advance. That means 3 days before the trip everyone was negative.

Everyone entered the boat and the boat didn’t stop somewhere.

That means that this Guy or maybe somebody else got infected within these three days.

Maybe he got infected during the test from the nurse or the doctor, maybe he got infected when he left the hospital by elevator, maybe he got infected on his way home...

A negative test-result is just for the moment.

One minute later, you can not be sure that you are still negative.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Appalling decision to run the cruise, let alone pay to go on it.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

GoToCruise not so good.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Thankfully this floating oversized barge of idiocy isn't in a Japanese port. Let the Singaporeans experience the fun of dealing with this nonsense.

5 ( +10 / -5 )

@rainyday - the same people who promote travel, clubbing, drinking and other forms of recreation during this time.

10 ( +11 / -1 )

Who in their right mind would get on a cruise ship right now anyway?

11 ( +12 / -1 )

oh dear, not another one.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

It's almost 2021.............DON'T GO ON CRUISES PEOPLE!!!!!!!

10 ( +12 / -2 )

How stupid can one be? After all that has happened, still want to go on a cruise???!!!

18 ( +20 / -2 )

Well, they asked for it.

16 ( +17 / -1 )

Cruises are likely to be the last thing people will feel safe on.  I see a number of the big cruise line stocks have almost doubled in the few weeks since vaccine euphoria took over.  My guess is they will be hard hit by this and ongoing nervousness about US sailings.

Personally wouldn't even go on one pre-Covid, but they were wildly popular....

13 ( +13 / -0 )

I believe they also tested the IQ of those boarding the cruise and found the average to be 60.

23 ( +27 / -4 )

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