General Chat

we now have 2 cases in BC connected to Iran ................. woman in her 30s flew from Iran to Toronto to BC, came down with symptoms a couple of days later, confirmed.

2 or 3 days later a man in his 40s connected with her also confirmed, but he started with symptoms before she was confirmed.

Both mild and in home isolation, contacts being notified, s well as the crews on the planes and people who sat within (I think) 6 rows of her.

They're also working with Iran to work out her travels and contacts, and where she might have been infected, over there.

Hmm......I wonder if the Olympics will be cancelled?

Seemingly there is one case in Cheshire they had been in Italy/Austria border skiing..


And a school near Doncaster shutdown because pupils had been on a skiing holiday on the border with Italy.

I think the government know a lot more then they are saying really bad of all the governments

Tourist in a hotel in Tenerife also confirmed with the virus, hotel in lock down. sadly they didn't catch it in time in Italy and they will have travelled all over.

Seems a tourist from the Lombardy region has taken the virus into Sicily.

People due to go to Northern Italy on holiday are complaining that they haven't been given any advice.

So here is mine: stay at home and lose some money
Or go and chance either getting the virus - or more likely not being able to leave AND having to go into quarantine when you get home.

If you do choose to go don't expect a repatriation flight for free.

The choice is yours!

In 1832, cholera was officially recorded in east London & led to about 800 deaths.

'Cholera morbus' had first been identified in India in 1817.

(A cheerful uplifting excerpt from yesterday's Times newspaper.)

Apparently a case now in a hotel in Costa Adeje, Tenerife which is now in lock down. A visitor from italy.

BBC - "Britons returning from northern Italy are being told to self-isolate in the UK if they show coronavirus symptoms."

Shutting the stable door...…?

Reminds me of the stories "Typhoid Mary"? :-0

Exactly Allan and not know they have it very worrying.

Some people may also be carriers.

Worrying about the clusters in places like Italy that so far can't be explained for source...I think the 14 days is too short.

It is a long time, I agree, Sue, but the word 'quarantine' is derived from forty days, which was the period that ships could not discharge passengers during the era of the Plague.

I'm not sure whether people complained back then, but social media these days means that people can vent their frustrations to all and sundry :-D

Allan,
Thats an interesting article .

24 days is a long time but better safe than sorry.

And the English couple who are complaining about the British government not sending a plane out should think twice now as they both proved positive for the virus and have been taken off the ship and put in a hospital in Japan.

Just goes to show some complaining doesn't get you anywhere.

Some reports have suggested that the incubation period may be longer than fourteen days

https://www.news.com.au/world/asia/chinese-officials-have-warned-the-coronavirus-incubation-period-could-reach-24-days/news-story/384e73b743ec81d8aed657a2594a746e

Sue ..............

there's up to a 14 day incubation period, and it now seems that you are or can be infectious before symptoms appear.

So ........... my guess is those people were infected before they left Wuhan, but didn't show any symptoms at any of the check points they went through to get to the airport or at the airport, or else they would not have been allowed to proceed to the next step in the process. Nor did they show symptoms at any of the testings on the plane, or on the ground after landing at the air base.. Simply because they were in the incubation period and not showing symptoms

Isn't there one of the childhood illnesses where a child is/was infectious before showing symptoms?? Chicken pox, measles???



Ann ...... again the probable answer to your question is simple.

Crew members are continually moving around the ship, cleaning, and delivering food etc to the cabins. Several of them have come down with the virus. They don't apparently actually enter the cabins, just hand stuff in at the door. But there might be hand contact, contact with the edge of the tray, container, etc

But also it seems that the virus is able to live for longer on door handles, rails etc etc, and as people are allowed out of their cabins to get fresh air, a simple touch on a railing at the stairwell or in the elevator could be enough

Plus .............. how efficient is the air conditioning system??


The friend we had dinner with last night has been on over 40 cruises, and he was saying that he is always amazed at how fast infections spread on board a ship.

First couple of days ........ no sign of anything

Day 3 ...... a few dry coughs

Day 4 ........ half the audience at a lecture coughing


In fact, a ship is very possibly the very last place to serve as quarantine if the people IN quarantine expect to be unaffected, just because of the difficulty of really getting everything as clean as needed, and the close quarters. It was reported here that people were actually putting threads around the dividers between their balconies so they could talk at close quarters. That was something that was against instructions.

It is a good place to isolate possibly infected people from those on shore.

On the other hand ................... what are you going to do with 3,000 (or even possibly 6,000) passengers who have been exposed to a very contagious disease? How do you get them all off the ship, through a port city, an airport? Where are the planes to get them home? What happens in the home country???

Ship's staff, they have to move between those who are sick and those who aren't, even with the best of precautions, they will be handling plates , linens etc.

It's the other passengers onboard walking the decks that could be passing it on.

But we all don't know that the tests are getting done properly.

Can't wonder that the British want to wait.

The air-conditioning system