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Photos inside the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where thousands of passengers have been quarantined for a week due to the coronavirus outbreak
Photos inside the Diamond Princess cruise ship, where thousands of passengers have been quarantined for a week due to the coronavirus outbreak
Hilary BrueckFeb 12, 2020, 02:06 IST
AP Photo/Eugene HoshikoJournalists work near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship sitting at the Yokohama Port, February 10, 2020.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship has been under quarantine since February 4, after several guests were diagnosed with the novel Wuhan coronavirus, COVID-19.
There are more than 3,500 passengers and crew stranded on board the ship, which was scheduled to dock a week ago.
The number of people from the ship who've been diagnosed with COVID-19 has ballooned to at least 135. Many have been let off the boat for treatment, while for others who are healthy, the quarantine is scheduled to last until February 19.
People aboard have mixed reactions, with some loving the room service treatment, and others desperate to get off and find more booze.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship, which houses up to 3,770 passengers and crew at a time, boasts the largest Japanese bath at sea, and typically offers over 20 bars and restaurants for passengers to choose from.
The Diamond Princess has become a floating home to 2,666 guests and 1,045 crew in the port of Yokohama, Japan.
The passengers and crew were supposed to finish up a 14-day cruise on February 4. Instead, that's when Japanese public health officials climbed on board in haz-mat suits and discovered an initial 10 cases of the novel coronavirus.
The cruise line suspects the contagion started some time after January 20, when a man from Hong Kong boarded the ship in Japan.
The man stayed on board for five days, and then disembarked in his hometown. He was later diagnosed with the coronavirus, on February 1, alerting health officials to a potential outbreak on the Diamond Princess.
Since the ship has been in quarantine, at least 135 of the roughly 3,700 passengers and crew have tested positive for the new virus.
The coronavrius spreads easily through close contact between people. Because testing for COVID-19 takes a day or more, and involves piling machines full of spit and mucus samples, it's not practical to test every one of the thousands on board.
People aboard have been unfurling signs that read "lack of medicine!" and "thank you media" in recent days.
On Monday evening, a crewmember announced to passengers on board the ship that as many as 1,850 of the guests and crew on board (who weren't expecting to be stuck there for this long) have requested more prescription medications, which have now been distributed. It's unclear what medications they are taking.
The medical staff on board now includes "45 doctors, 55 nurses, and 45 pharmacists, most of who are volunteers," a crew member announced to passengers on Tuesday.
Japanese health officials came through with delivery of medications this evening. Still, when you travel, always remember to bring extra to serve as a cushion until quarantine supplies arrive. Just sayin' pic.twitter.com/949WpCqYsf
One passenger, Matthew Smith, has taken to photographing just about every meal he is served aboard the ship on Twitter, and he has few complaints.
Yes, 66 new cases have been id'ed on board, and I do feel bad for those people, but because life goes on . . . here was lunch: tater salad, three bean something, and pork adobo. And Coke! No complaints here. pic.twitter.com/YgGdmwLkKy
The masks are not great at preventing wearers from contracting the novel coronavirus, but they may help protect others from being exposed, if a mask wearer is sick.
Passengers in interior staterooms on the Diamond Princess are allowed to step out on deck for some precious fresh air, but only if they wear masks.
One Australian family staying in a bunked interior room was let outside for an hour on Friday, Buzzfeed News reported. It was their first time in the fresh air since Tuesday.
Public health experts advise maintaining a 6-foot distance between people to keep the virus spread at bay. But that can be difficult in the close quarters of a cruise ship.
Sick passengers have been taken ashore for medical care.
A crewmember announced Tuesday over loudspeakers that the boat was in the process of unloading 65 people with newly-diagnosed cases of the coronavirus, "prioritizing cases for disembarkation based on immediate need."
"We have to remember that quarantines protect those outside the quarantine, not those within," John Lynch, an associate professor of infectious diseases at the University of Washington told the New York Times.
The ship has added 8 more TV channels to the rooms, and started offering care packages to kids.
Diamond Princess announced on day two of the quarantine that in addition to the extra TV channels, they'd add more than 80 new video-on-demand releases to their offerings, and lots of trivia and games for people to pass the time. One crewmember said that they're dolling out an "unprecedented amount of bandwidth" on the ship now.
— だぁ(On board the Diamond Princess / 乗船中) (@daxa_tw) February 10, 2020
"We're also offering our guests and crew specialized telephonic mental health counseling," Princess Cruises executive vice president Rai Calouri said in a YouTube video on Friday.
"We recognize that this situation is not ideal on any dimension," Calouri said. "A situation like this can create unprecedented stress."
"Ladies and gentlemen, the sun has set on us once more, and we have only 8 days to go," a crewmember announced to the ship Tuesday evening.
Public health experts still stress that because the illness is chiefly transmitted through virus particles in a sick person's mucus and spit, one of the best things to do to stay healthy is wash your hands.
