CDC says coronavirus survived in Princess Cruise ship cabins for up to 17 days after passengers left

[demmiblue]

Source: CNBC

The coronavirus survived for up to 17 days aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, living far longer on surfaces than previous research has shown, according to new data published Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The study examined the Japanese and U.S. government efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreaks on the Carnival-owned Diamond Princess ship in Japan and the Grand Princess ship in California. Passengers and crew on both ships were quarantined on board after previous guests, who didn't have any symptoms while aboard each of the ships, tested positive for COVID-19 after landing ashore.

The virus "was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess but before disinfection procedures had been conducted," the researchers wrote, adding that the finding doesn't necessarily mean the virus spread by surface.

"COVID-19 on cruise ships poses a risk for rapid spread of disease, causing outbreaks in a vulnerable population, and aggressive efforts are required to contain spread," the CDC wrote, reiterating its guidance to vulnerable populations to avoid cruises during the pandemic.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/23/cdc-coronavirus-survived-in-princess-cruise-cabins-up-to-17-days-after-passengers-left.html?__source=twitter%7Cmain

[BigmanPigman]

1. Hell yes, let's stop all the "stay at home" orders now!

[Pillow talk]

2. no it doesn't. if not sanitized well yes. but the cleaners of the world know this

[demmiblue]

4. ...

[Pillow talk]

5. this is bull. Shame on folks spreading this crap. we need the data not freak outs

[moriah]

17. Welcome to DU!

As far as data, here's the CDC data they were referring to.

Enjoy!

[Pillow talk]

20. hi. thank you

[rzemanfl]

7. Bookmarking. n/t

[beachbumbob]

3. this is VERY BAD news

[BamaRefugee]

6. In TrumpWorld the virus only survives 15 days, we're all going back to work soon! Virus Free!

[procon]

8. At this rate we're gonna be under lock down orders

for several months. If it's bad now, there's gonna be food riots. Desperate people are driven to do desperate things. Looks like some scary times ahead.

[Jamastiene]

9. Holy shit!

They should go ahead and change its name to Captain Tripps. That's one deadly virus. Where did this thing come from, really?

[Igel]

12. There are some assumptions baked into the reading.

It says it could survive. OP doesn't say how much.

We don't know how much is necessary for infection. Yes, one virus particle could, in principle, produce an infection. But, in principle, all the gas in the room I'm in could suddenly wind up randomly heading to one corner of the room. One person said, in jest, that the way you say "no" in French is "en principe ..."

Then there's the explicit warning that we haven't actually shown that it's all that easy to catch the virus from a surface.

Really, it most likely started with some bats in a cave somewhere in Hubei Province, jumped to pangolins about 6 years ago when one ate something with batshit on it, and then to humans in October or November 2019 when a human ate some part of an infected pangolin or just spent too much time incautiously handling the pangolin (the way that MERS jumped from camel to human a while back).

[Jamastiene]

18. People need to quit eating endangered species.

Pangolins are an endangered species.

[CottonBear]

19. Global organized crime syndicates traffic endangered animals across the world.

The wet markets exist in Thailand, among other places, not just in China.

[Jamastiene]

22. I wouldn't doubt if there was a quite large market for it in the US as well.

The point still is that people need to quit eating endangered species.

[CottonBear]

23. I completely agree with you.

I watched a secret video made by a journalist who was investigating a market in Thailand.
I couldn’t watch it all the way through. It was awful.

[Anon-C]

28. They are strategic threats to our national security and all humanity, and should be treated as such.

Travellers from nations that refuse to ban wet markets for ethno-cultural reasons should be quarantined for 30-days at cost or banned outright.

[flibbitygiblets]

10. Well, Trumph said Carnival cruise ships are going to be turned into hospitals

Said it a few days ago during one of his rambling "press conferences". Said several times he spoke with the head of Carnival, and that ships were heading to "LA, San Francisco and New York" and they have "lots of rooms" and we can just turn them into floating hospitals.

What could go wrong?

[Initech]

11. There is something about this that they are not telling us.

And it's way past time to find out what.

[cstanleytech]

13. So was it simply remnant DNA of the virus or actual viable virus that was able to infect people?

I can understand being able to find DNA but I find it difficult to believe the virus could survive that long without a host of some sort unless of course its an issue of being in a climate controlled environment.
If the climate control is what helped it survive though then perhaps they should investigate if altering it can help kill the virus faster?

[highplainsdem]

14. The actual CDC report says "SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified." Link:

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e3.htm?s_cid=mm6912e3_w

Cruise ships are often settings for outbreaks of infectious diseases because of their closed environment, contact between travelers from many countries, and crew transfers between ships. On the Diamond Princess, transmission largely occurred among passengers before quarantine was implemented, whereas crew infections peaked after quarantine (6). On the Grand Princess, crew members were likely infected on voyage A and then transmitted SARS-CoV-2 to passengers on voyage B. The results of testing of passengers and crew on board the Diamond Princess demonstrated a high proportion (46.5%) of asymptomatic infections at the time of testing. Available statistical models of the Diamond Princess outbreak suggest that 17.9% of infected persons never developed symptoms (9). A high proportion of asymptomatic infections could partially explain the high attack rate among cruise ship passengers and crew. SARS-CoV-2 RNA was identified on a variety of surfaces in cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers up to 17 days after cabins were vacated on the Diamond Princess but before disinfection procedures had been conducted (Takuya Yamagishi, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, personal communication, 2020). Although these data cannot be used to determine whether transmission occurred from contaminated surfaces, further study of fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 aboard cruise ships is warranted.

[cstanleytech]

16. Yes but it does not say if it was viable. I mean DNA tests on blood can identify a person but its

still not the person.
But away we still come back to if it was viable and could infect someone why? What made the environment so different there that helped it remain viable than what has been otherwise reported? The only thing I can think of is the climate controls of the ship since we do know viruses can be stored in climate controlled labs for years.

[RussBLib]

15. 17 days?!

Oh shit

[Dem_in_Nebr.]

21. Nature is a bitch!

Talk about ways to deal with over-population and Globalization, this is one way . We stress nature out so much that she snaps.

This seems harsh but it is what it is.

Just my opinion.

[w0nderer]

24. k & r n/t

[Hekate]

25. KnR

[gldstwmn]

26. Let's turn it into hospital!

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

27. The fact that the RNA of the virus can be found

does NOT mean that it can jump from those surfaces to humans. Maybe it does, but we don't know at this point.

I'm also astonished that the ship had not been immediately cleaned and thoroughly disinfected for 17 days after anyone had left.

Perhaps this tells you more about the Princess line than anything else.

I was on a Holland America cruise to Hawaii March 1 to March 18, and even though were were among the safest people on the planet there, we all noticed a clear uptick in cleaning as the voyage progressed. And this was on a cruise line that already seemed incredibly good at cleaning.

People are also freaking out that the virus can survive on key pads and gas pump handles. Or coins. Somehow I doubt that any of those are even a trivial source of infection, let alone a major source.

[ecstatic]

29. They need to figure this out and quickly

I've heard so many conflicting reports on how long this virus can survive.

I've made decisions on what to spray with Lysol based on the 2 to 3 day estimate.

Which is it?