Glad these people are being monitored. Hope they stay healthy. 
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The demographic of those on the ship (serious people like the expert birdwatcher/ oncologist…this was not some sort of “fun” cruise after all) would likely have been very cooperative with any sort of health expert requirements. That they were not even asked to do so immediately is crazy.
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This, this, this!!! (Gift link)
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From the Atlantic article: “But what happens next depends on how well public-health officials communicate what precautions people should be taking.”
Actually, it doesn’t depend on how well public officials communicate the information, it depends on whether people listen and follow them. And as Covid taught us, we’re basically screwed. Or at least I am in my red state where people are already responding to articles about the hantavirus outbreak with “another election year hoax” and “I’m not taking the jab.”
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This 100%!
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Another update:
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Before Covid days my coworker (who has a masters in biology) and our company HR manager would wear a mask any time she had the slightest cough or felt unwell. She once insisted another coworker leave immediately and go home because they were coughing profusely “please don’t come back until you’re no longer coughing, I don’t want you getting everyone sick.”
Along comes Covid and mask mandates in the office (if you’re coming in to the office)…you guessed it, she’s furious(!) “you can’t force me to wear a mask!” She’s STILL mad about it.
So yeah, getting people to be responsible is going to be next to impossible if we get to that.
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Wait, I read this like three times. The same person??
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We’re already there. Enormous pushback in my town when a large pediatric medical practice which was still accepting unvaccinated patients changed its policy. You want your kid with the cough and runny nose sitting in the waiting room along with babies who are too young to be vaccinated, or kids with complex auto-immune disorders who can’t be vaccinated? Your kid will get MMR on time. You don’t want to vaccinate? Find another pediatrician. Maybe one who makes house calls. Or prescribes Ivermectin for every single ailment– as if that’s a safe and “natural” way to go!
But try telling an anti-vaxxer that their wheezy sneezy kid is putting other people’s children at risk, and you’ll get the clown car explanation of how “nobody ever died of measles until the vaccine came along and now we all have autism”. Or listen to the folks who trust their massage therapist “he’s kept me healthy without drugs” vs. getting a flu shot. And then they stand in line at the supermarket coughing and hacking away when they have the flu just to make sure that everyone within a two foot radius gets maximum exposure.
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I was in a waiting room at the dentist yesterday. Another guy waiting was hacking away, the whole time he was in the waiting room. And I’m talking a chesty cough.
Agree…people will need to take some responsibility…but geez, if they can’t stay home with a cough…
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From what I have seen so far, the Americans who were on this cruise are a good demographic. The oncologist who took over as ship’s doctor, the travel writer who is posting and is voluntarily remaining in Nebraska for 6 weeks (his profile on FB includes an old I GOT VAXXED!" pic and his big excitement is that his family sent him an adult coloring book to do while he’s quarantining…so cute), these people seem like they are going to do what they can to protect the public. This particular ship and the activities (a lot of birdwatching) attracted serious people who are likely to follow the science. The non-Americans may be under mandatory quarantine in their countries—which the US does not do.
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An epidemiologist answers some questions about the outbreak:
This is not related to the hantavirus situation but again demonstrates that cruise ships could be perfect grounds for outbreaks.
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One and the same, Ms. Masters of Biology!
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Another passenger who helped taking care of the sick tests positive, strongly suggesting human to human transmission:
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AND he’s at the dentist! Who wants to put their hands in that mouth!?
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And how is he supposed to breathe and keep his mouth open during the procedure?! Have to say some dentists have a no show fee without any exceptions, even if the patient is sick… not saying it is the case there, just that is a bad policy.
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I thought they were sure it was the Andes strain so already knew human to human tranmission was likely. The doc is apparently asymptomatic as of now and from what i saw he might have had an earlier mild case and recovered. But he is apparently happy to spend his time in the biocontainment unit until he tests negative. This guy is not looking to get anyone ill.
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I have a family member who is a physician. People don’t cancel their appointments because they have a cold. They don’t want to reschedule.
My family member also sees people who are actively ill because that’s part of what he does as his job. He does seem to get lots of colds.
My dentist has PPE that he can wear if a patient has a cold. So does my dental hygienist.
My recent experiences with dentist and hygienist visits is that they are now always wrapped in PPE when doing anything in your mouth, regardless of whether you have any known cold or other transmissible disease.
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