There was all sorts of drama being reported last night along about this time. The report I’ve seen stated that the woman was showing symptoms, and at some point boarded the ship’s tender along with her husband to go to shore to seek treatment. There was reportedly an air ambulance awaiting at the airport. They were not allowed to come ashore though, then the cruise ship itself refused to allow them to board, effectively stranding them in the ship’s tender. There never was any indication that they were allowed to return to the ship.
The ship was not allowed to port at Belize, and they had to make an announcement as to the reason why. Also, it was reported that either she or her husband had bragged to other passengers about her handling vials of Ebola, which became rapidly known among the passengers, then she started showing symptoms. The ship was also not allowed to port in Mexico.
It’s a bizarre set of circumstances to a bizarre decision, taking a cruise, given that two of her coworkers have been infected. People can talk about ignorance and panic among the general public all they want, but the ignorance and arrogance of certain medical professionals has been stunning. It’s as if they don’t quite grasp the seriousness of the situation themselves.
More selfishness than anything, and they all should be charged with a crime for being out in public at all!
So, she and her husband aren’t in the cabin under self-quarantine out of an “abundance of caution”? Or did the cruise line relent and let them back on?
Update From Carnival Cruise Lines: John Head, Carnival Senior Cruise Director wrote on his FaceBook Page:
“Late afternoon on Wednesday, Oct. 15., we were made aware by the U.S. CDC of a guest sailing this week on board Carnival Magic who is a lab supervisor at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. At no point in time has the individual exhibited any symptoms or signs of infection and it has been 19 days since she was in the lab with the testing samples. She is deemed by CDC to be very low risk. At this time, the guest remains in isolation on board the ship and is not deemed to be a risk to any guests or crew. It is important to reiterate that the individual has no symptoms and has been isolated in an extreme abundance of caution. We are in close contact with the CDC and at this time it has been determined that the appropriate course of action is to simply keep the guest in isolation on board.”
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The reports on this are all over the place.
The FB posting makes it sound as if they just quietly self-quarantined, once the CDC contacted the cruise line. Did the cruise ship just want them off then and told the CDC to just “get them off our ship!”? Then, they told Belize they had an Ebola passenger on board? How did the Health Ministry of Belize know unless the ship told them? And why would they tell them it was someone exposed to Ebola? Talk about starting a fire!
And again— why the medivac plane?
None of this makes sense. I know I am like a dog with a bone; it must be my mini-detective. Or I am sleep deprived.;^)
Someone wake me when they’ve made sense of this.
the ignorance and arrogance of certain medical professionals has been stunning.......
You’ve got that right.
Its not their fault they were exposed, but damn, common sense should tell anyone with even remote contact to at minimum self isolate. The hospital should have issued a directive stating the same.
Too much like closing the barn door once the cows are out.