LONG BEACH, California (Reuters) – With a white captain’s hat perched on his head, Calvin Ballard looked relaxed as he waited to leave on his very first cruise to Mexico, unperturbed by the possibility of being trapped on a ship besieged by an epidemic of coronavirus.
Like many other vacationers flocking to a liner moored near Los Angeles, Ballard said he was well aware that passengers on other cruises had been stranded for weeks away from home, and he is committed to taking special precautions to stay healthy. Nevertheless, he was determined to have a good time.
“What we plan to do is wash our hands often, try not to touch things, then touch our mouths, and just be aware of how we come into contact with them. people – the smart stuff, “the 55-year-old says the director of Orange, California. “We focus on fun.”
Ballard and his wife, Judy, 50, wearing a sailor cap, were among some 2,350 Carnival Cruise Line passengers who departed Long Beach Harbor on Thursday for a three-day trip to the resort of Ensenada, on the coast of Baja in Mexico.
From those stopping for Reuters interviews just outside the terminal, it was clear that most passengers had packed additional hand sanitizer with their sunscreen and that they would likely approach the lines of the buffet of food with more trepidation than in the past.
Everyone readily recognized that the fear of coronaviruses and the stories of quarantined cruise ships in Cambodia and Japan were not far from their minds.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories,” said Andrew MacKenzie, 37, of Napa, California, as he waited with a boyfriend before boarding the Carnival Imagination.
But all said that they had made peace with the idea of being gathered in relatively close quarters with hundreds of strangers, and were resolved to follow meticulous hand hygiene and to keep a safe distance with all person who seemed sick.
Passengers on board said they were also reassured to know that their trip to North America was far from the epicenter of the coronavirus epidemic, which infected more than 75,000 people and killed more than 2,200 people. The vast majority of cases and deaths occur in China.
“I hope everything will be fine,” said Shirley Sosin, 67, traveling with her friend, Bernadette Neve, 53, both registered nurses from Fresno.
They booked their trip well before the coronavirus epidemic, but felt reassured by the measures taken by Carnival to minimize the risk, including more rigorous pre-cruise health examinations and “improved sanitation measures on board.”
A central precaution is a strict ban against any passenger or crew who has traveled to China, Hong Kong or Macao in the past 14 days – the presumed incubation period of the virus. The cruise line has promised a full refund for denied boarding passengers.
THE BENEFIT OF THE CRUISE
Although the carrier has declared that it operates as usual in North America and Australia, its parent company, Carnival Corp, the world’s largest cruise company, is suffering a severe blow from the disruption of its coronavirus activities in Asia.
The company, which ended 2019 with adjusted earnings per share of $ 4.40, predicted that its financial performance for 2020 would be reduced from 55 cents to 65 cents per share, including passenger compensation for canceled reservations.
Paul Meade, 57, a resident of Lincolnshire, England, concluded a family visit to Utah with a brief trip to Mexico, said that he and his wife “were following the story (of the coronavirus) on the news.”
“But a three-day cruise from L.A., I don’t think there is anything to worry about,” he said. “We know the precautions for good hygiene, and we practice them anyway, so I don’t think there is reason to be too worried.”
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, agreed that there was not much to fear from the coronavirus, in light of the precautions taken by cruise lines.
“The risk of getting the flu is infinitely greater than the risk of getting a coronavirus if you sail in the Western Hemisphere, or even in Hawaii,” he said.
Schaffner said cruise lines have done a lot in recent years to improve disinfection measures and train staff in good hygiene, by reducing the frequency of outbreaks on board food and respiratory illnesses.
Nevertheless, he said that diligent hand washing, good coughing and sneezing coverage and self-reporting are essential for reducing germs, including seasonal flu and norovirus, a serious intestinal disease that has been particularly troublesome at sea.
Coronavirus is mainly spread by tiny droplets coughed or sneezed directly from an infected person into the face of a nearby person, as opposed to the more contagious “aerial” transmission of a virus like measles, which can remain suspended in enclosed spaces and be breathed in a few hours. after being exhaled by sick people, said Schaffner.
Although coronavirus can also be detected from surfaces, the spread of droplets is considered its main vector, so widespread disinfection is unlikely to be effective in curbing its transmission, according to a guide from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from the United States.
Overall, the risk of contracting the coronavirus while cruising in North America remains “very, very low,” said Schaffner, adding that his advice to someone expressing interest in such a trip: “Have a good trip “.
Report and writing by Steve Gorman in Long Beach; additional reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank McGurty and Daniel Wallis
