Steve Gorman
LONG
BEACH, Calif. - With a white captain’s hat perched on his
head, Calvin Ballard seemed relaxed as he waited to depart on his
first-ever cruise to Mexico, unfazed by the possibility of being trapped
on a ship under siege by an outbreak of coronavirus. Like many
fellow vacationers streaming onto an ocean liner docked near Los
Angeles, Ballard said he was well aware that passengers aboard other
cruises had ended up stranded for weeks, far from home, and he vowed to
take special care to stay healthy. Nonetheless, he was determined to
have a good time.
“What we’re planning on doing is washing our
hands often, trying not to touch things and then touch our mouths, and
just being aware of how we come into contact with people - the smart
stuff,” the 55-year-old asset manager from Orange, California, said
cheerfully. “We’re focusing on enjoying ourselves.”
Ballard
and his wife, Judy, 50, sporting a sailor’s cap, were among some 2,350
Carnival Cruise Line passengers who departed on Thursday from the Port
of Long Beach on a three-day voyage to the resort city of Ensenada on
Mexico’s Baja coast.
From those pausing for interviews with
Reuters just outside the terminal, it was clear most passengers had
packed extra hand sanitizer with their sunscreen and would likely
approach the food buffet lines with greater trepidation than in the
past.
All readily acknowledged that the coronavirus scare and
stories of cruise ships under quarantine in Cambodia and Japan were not
far from their minds.
“We’ve all heard the horror stories,” said
Andrew MacKenzie, 37, from Napa, California, as he waited with a buddy
before boarding the Carnival Imagination.
But all professed they
had made peace with the idea of being herded into relatively close
quarters with hundreds of strangers, and were resolved to follow
meticulous hand hygiene and keep a safe distance from anyone who
appeared sick.
Embarking passengers said they also took comfort
knowing their North American getaway was far from the epicenter of the
coronavirus epidemic, which has infected more than 75,000 people and
killed over 2,200. The overwhelming bulk of cases and deaths are in
China.
“Hopefully we’ll be just fine,” said Shirley Sosin, 67,
traveling with her friend, Bernadette Neve, 53, both of them registered
nurses from Fresno.
They booked their trip well before the
coronavirus outbreak but felt reassured by steps Carnival said it has
instituted to minimize the risk, including more rigorous pre-cruise
health screenings and “enhanced onboard sanitation measures.”
A
central precaution is a strict prohibition against any passengers or
crew who have been to China, Hong Kong or Macau during the previous 14
days - the presumed incubation period of the virus. The cruise line
promised full refunds for passengers denied boarding.
CRUISE EARNINGS TAKE A HIT
Although the carrier said it is operating as usual in North America and Australia, its parent, Carnival Corp (
CCL.N), the world’s largest cruise ship company, is taking a major hit from coronavirus-related disruptions of its business in Asia.
The
company, which ended 2019 with adjusted earnings per share of $4.40,
has projected its 2020 financial performance will be diminished by 55 to
65 cents a share, including passenger compensation for canceled
bookings.
Paul Meade, 57, a resident of Lincolnshire, England,
capping a family visit to Utah with a quick trip to Mexico, said he and
his wife were “following the (coronavirus) story on the news.”
“But
a three-day cruise from L.A., I don’t think there’s anything to worry
about,” he said. “We do know the precautions for good hygiene, and we
practice them anyway, so I don’t think there’s reason to be overly
concerned.”
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease
specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville,
Tennessee, agreed there was little to fear from coronavirus, in light of
precautions taken by cruise lines.
“The risk of someone getting
the flu is infinitely greater than the risk of getting coronavirus if
you’re cruising in the Western Hemisphere, or even to Hawaii,” he said.
Schaffner
said cruise lines have done much in recent years to improve
disinfectant measures and training of personnel in good hygiene,
reducing the frequency of onboard outbreaks of food-borne and
respiratory illnesses.
Nevertheless, he said diligent
hand-washing, proper covering of coughs and sneezes and self-reporting
of illnesses are key to curtailing germs, including seasonal flu and
norovirus, a severe intestinal disease that has been particularly
troublesome at sea.
Coronavirus is spread primarily through tiny
droplets coughed or sneezed directly from an infected person into the
face of someone nearby, as opposed to the more contagious “airborne”
transmission of a virus like measles, which can remain suspended in
enclosed spaces and be breathed in hours after being exhaled by sick
individuals, Schaffner said.
Although
coronavirus can also be picked up from surfaces, droplet spread is seen
as its principal vector, so “widespread disinfection is unlikely to be
effective” in curbing its transmission, according to a U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance.
Overall, the risk
of contracting coronavirus on a cruise in North America remains “very,
very low,” Schaffner said, adding that his advice to someone expressing
an interest in taking such a trip: “Bon voyage.”
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