Sticky, icky virus: How to clean a 1,000-foot cruise ship
Royal Caribbean cruise officials are busy scrubbing and sanitizing a giant cruise ship after nearly 650 passengers and crew got sick with suspected norovirus this week. But it won’t be easy to get the ship spic and span for the next batch of tourists.
The norovirus is sticky and hard to kill, and it gets everywhere.
Ask the people who found the virus in light fixtures and on mantelpieces in a British hotel after an outbreak, or the flight attendants who all got sick after a single passenger threw up on a jet, or the soccer players who got sick after a teammate threw up near — not on, but near — a grocery bag.
Now translate that to a monster liner with 15 decks, four pools, six whirlpools, 15 bars, clubs and lounges — including a casino — and shops.
“Any surface that you can disinfect, you probably should,” said Benjamin Lopman, a viral disease expert at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Explorer of the Seas ship turned back partway through a 10-day cruise from Cape Liberty, N.J., to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten after patients started getting sick, with vomiting and diarrhea — classic symptoms of norovirus. It's a big vessel, carrying 1,165 crew and 3,050 passengers who are being encouraged to stay in their cabins as much as possible to reduce the risk of infection.
http://www.nbcnews.com/health/puke-patrol-how-clean-1-000-foot-cruise-ship-2D11999534
The ship will arrive in NJ just as 10s of thousands arrive for the Super Bowl. Does anyone think that makes good sense!
They should drop them off in Dry Tortuga for a couple weeks until they are no longer sick.
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