02 March 2009

Big dirty job

MSNBC has the story of yet another cruise gone wrong:
A Holland American cruise ship was on its way back to the Mexican Riviera Sunday after docking in San Diego to drop off scores of sick passengers and disinfect the ship. The cruise ship that sailed out of San Diego was on high alert after 106 passengers came down with the norovirus. More than 1,800 guests were on board the Oosterdam for a seven day cruise to Mexico. “Guests who demonstrated symptoms were asked to remain in their cabins until symptoms disappeared,” Holland American Spokesperson Erik Elvejord said. The Holland America ship departed San Diego a week ago for a cruise to Baja California and returned to San Diego Saturday morning.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is contacted after two percent of passengers get sick, Elvejord said. In this case, they were dealing with more than five percent of the passengers being sick. The CDC estimates 23 million people, or 8-percent, of the country’s population get symptoms of the norovirus. Each year, less than one percent of all cruise ships are impacted.
“Since this type of stomach flu can easily spread, several rigorous cleaning and sanitizing protocols have already been implemented to reduce the risk to other passengers,” Elvejord said. Elvejord said crews were busy cleaning everything from carpets and linens, to elevator buttons, railings, books, exercise equipment, walls, and door jams; basically everything touched by crew and guests.
Rico says that's yet another reason he won't be cruising this season...

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