Cruise ship quarantines six crew members for flu

On the day that a H1N1 pandemic was declared by the W.H.O., alarm bells sounded when a cruise ship that docked at the Belize City port, advised that crew members were quarantined on board. Passengers came on shore only after a visit by health authorities. Jose Sanchez at the tourism village and has this report.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
Three cruise ships made their port of call in Belize today with over nine thousand passengers combined. Visitors from two ships disembarked as scheduled, but instead of passengers coming off the Enchantment of the Seas, a team of inspectors headed by a Medical Epidemiologist and public health inspectors went on board.

Dr. Paul Edwards, Focal Point Pandemic Influenza
“There was a report of some crew members who were isolated. Our investigation revealed there were some crew members who were identified with Influenza Type A. I want to make it clear that is the initial screening. We do not know if it is H1N1. Only further screening will provide those results. But the fact that these individuals had presented with Influenza A, they were medically examined before and they initiated treatment with Tamiflu.”

The ship carried approximately twenty-five hundred tourists, and after eleven a.m. the first set of passengers disembarked the tenders at the Fort Street Tourist Village. Few of the passengers knew of any concern on board.

Jose Sanchez
“Did they tell you why they took so long to take you off the ship?”

Tourist #1
“No, they didn’t.”

Jose Sanchez
“Would you be surprised to know that some crew members were quarantined for influenza A?”

Tourist #1
“Yes, I would be surprised to know that.”

Jose Sanchez
“So they did not tell you you need to exercise some proper hygiene?”

Tourist #1
“Not at that particular time, they haven’t.”

Jose Sanchez
“Even though they are not sure it’s the H1N1, do you think they should have told you what happened?”

Tourist #1
“That would have been nice so we could have washed our hands properly.”

Jose Sanchez
“Did you bring any hand sanitizers or anything?”

Tourist #2
“No.”

Jose Sanchez
“Did they tell you to look out for your health?”

Tourist #2
“They may have said it but I didn’t hear it.”

Tourist #3
“I wouldn’t be really happy finding out people are sick but that is the risk that people take when getting on a boat that went to Mexico I guess.”

Jose Sanchez
“Are you taking any precautions?”

Tourist #3
“I’m gonna wash my hands with sanitizer. If I got sick I would go to a doctor.”

Jose Sanchez
“Are you taking any particular measures?”

Tourist #4
“Nothing other than washing our hands a lot. That’s all.”

Jose Sanchez
“Does this worry you on returning to the ship that you could be infected since they don’t know what strain it is at this point?”

Tourist #4
“No I’m not that worried about it. It’s only a flu and we’re healthy.”

Dr. Paul Edwards, Focal Point Pandemic Influenza
“So our investigation resulted in the fact that these individuals had absolutely no contact with the passengers who were on board and therefore there was no risks for those individuals to come off the cruise ships as well as there was no risk inevitably then to our Belizean populace. We were told as part of the investigation, that these individuals presented signs and symptoms before it actually left from the United States and they were under treatment. So I would concur that they acted very responsibly in relation to what arose.”

Many of the excursions planned from the Enchantment were cancelled due to the delay and tour operators were quick to book new ones.

Tom Greenwood, Guide, Major Tom and the Fun Team
“Finally after a delay of about almost four and a half hours allowed ships passengers to come ashore.”

Jose Sanchez
“Does this affect the way you operate? Are you going to be up close and personal with your guests?”

Tom Greenwood
“Oh well yes, what we do in circumstances like this, we have all the precautions in place including the typical hand wash and those things. The windows opened, hand wash. We look out ourselves. If we see anybody that remotely looked the way we don’t like, then we turn them back. I trust our health officials and they’ve been pretty good in what they have been doing so far. I have good trust in them.”

Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.