Covid-19 crisis Cancel a cruise due to one infection
When I read the news that a cruise ship had to return to Singapore immediately after discovering that one passenger was tested positive for covid-19, I asked these questions:

- Why cancel the trip?
- Why spoil the holiday of the other passengers (perhaps 1,000 or more)?
- Why can't the infected passenger be isolated in a cabin?

The majority of the people who responded to my post disagreed with me. They felt that it was "wise" to cancel the trip immediately to avoid the risk of the infection spreading through the whole ship. 

They imagined that a calamity would happen. It was wise to avoid this calamity.

I learned a day later the following information 

- The following cruise had to be canceled, affecting another 1,000 passengers or more.
- The cabins have separate air con systems and the virus cannot spread from one cabin to another.
- It was possible to isolate the passenger in special isolation cabins to avoid the spread of the virus to other cabins.

The biggest, and perhaps most shocking discovery, was that the passenger was actually not infected. There was a false reading during the cruise.

Just imagine the loss that had to be suffered by the cruise ship in compensating 2,000 or more passengers for the cancellation or shortening of the cruise. 

Just imagine the loss of jobs that may follow, if the cruise ship decided to furlough the crew as it could not be used for further cruises. 

The economic loss to the cruise ship and to the crew is horrendous. 

Even if the passenger was infected, the risk is actually very small. The infection is probably mild. Even if it does spread to a few other passengers, it is quite likely that they will not be harmed. 

Over 58,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in Singapore. Only 29 died, mostly among the elderly or those in poor health. The death rate for healthy people is very low. The majority got over the infection and became cured.

I imagine that the passengers on the cruise are healthy.  

The cruise ship probably followed the protocol mandated by the government in Singapore. I think the protocol is exceedingly cautious, to the point of being wasteful and extreme. 

There are more sensible ways to deal with this kind of situation. My common sense say - isolate the passenger in a special isolation cabin and monitor if there are other sick people on the ship. If the infection does spread to a few more people, bring the ship back. There is no need to over-react to a single risk, which turns out to be a false alarm.

I hope that the people in charge learn this lesson. I also hope that the citizens at large do not get frightened to an insane extent. It is not really a serious risk. Perhaps a bigger risk is road accidents and suicide due to mental health.

Agree or not?

Tan Kin Lian



 

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