RE: Proactive interview19 Nov 2020 10:19
No COVID-19 Testing of Guests? Questionnaires and Temperature Tests Won’t Work
The COVID-19 preventative measures of Mein Schiff, like AIDA Cruises, do not include testing of its guests for COVID-19. The website Argophilia in an article titled TUI’s Mein Schiff 2 Sets Sail Into Wicked Public Relations Storm reported that the passengers on Mein Schiff ships will not “even (be) required to have COVID-19 testing (other than a temperature check) before the journey. They are only required to fill out a questionnaire.”
This is consistent with what many people call the COVID-19 cruise restart protocols adopted by the European Union (EU) countries. The EU protocols do not include the mandatory testing of cruise guests. Ironically, the EU protocols were drafted by various individuals, paid by Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Line, who comprise these cruise lines’ joint “Healthy Sail Panel.”
Guests will never completely and accurately complete health questionnaires about COVID-19 in order assist the cruise companies in excluding them from the cruise that they paid for and are prepared to take. Requiring vacationers to be honest about voluntarily disclosing their symptoms just related to gastrointestinal illnesses has not been successful over the years in the cruise lines’ efforts to reduce the spread of norovirus. And neither a questionnaire nor a temperature probe will lead to the disclosure of COVID-19 by travelers who are not exhibiting symptoms. Indeed, the recent testing of the ten AIDA crew members who were positive for COVID-19 proves this point: 90% of those tested were asymptomatic and the remaining employee who tested positive had only mild symptoms. And they all had already reportedly tested negative before flying to Germany.
The “strict hygiene” measures touted by both lines will accomplish only so much. Eliminating self-service buffets is an obvious no-brainer. “Enhanced cleaning” sounds good but, again, has not been particularly effective in preventing norovirus or e-coli illnesses on cruise ships in the past. The primary method of transmission of coronavirus is not via contaminated surfaces but by droplets and/or airborne particles, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Enforcement of social distancing measures and the mandatory wearing of masks, as well as significantly reducing guest capacity on the ships, are important steps. But failing to test several thousands of guests who board these ships is reckless and irresponsible.
Guests will board the AIDA and Mein Schiff ships in the next month who are infected with COVID-19. They will inevitably infect other guests and crew members and contaminate the ship. But neither company will test the passengers for the virus before boarding. The result, unfortunately, will be entirely predictable.
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