A Cruise-Ship Crew Member Describes a Failed Effort to Contain the Coronavirus

A Cruise-Ship Crew Member Describes a Failed Effort to Contain the Coronavirus
Elaina Patton March 11, 2020 https://www.newyorker.com/news/as-told-to/a-cruise-ship-crew-member-desc...

Outbreaks of the new coronavirus on two Princess Cruises ships, off the coasts of Japan and the United States, have focussed public attention on the dangers faced by the ships’ roughly five thousand passengers. The spread of the virus on both vessels also exposed more than two thousand crew members to potential infection. Nineteen of the twenty-one people who have tested positive for the virus on the Grand Princess cruise ship, which docked in Oakland on Monday, are crew members. And crew members also account for at least eighty-five of seven hundred and five people who tested positive from the Diamond Princess, which has been sitting in Yokohama Bay since the beginning of February, when the Japanese government placed it under quarantine.

How the outbreak spread among the Grand Princess crew members is not yet known, and U.S. officials are requiring all passengers and crew from the ship to live in off-site quarantine facilities, in various parts of the country. This comes after the Japanese government has been accused of negligence in the implementation of safety measures on the Diamond Princess. Last month, news reports raised concerns about the ethics of the government keeping the passengers and crew on board as the number of confirmed cases steadily increased. Critics questioned whether crew members received adequate training and safety equipment. Officials in Japan, and now in the U.S., have defended their handling of the respective outbreaks.

One Diamond Princess crew member spoke about her experiences, on condition of anonymity, saying that she feared retaliation from the cruise company for describing the events on the ship. In the first phase of the lockdown, crew members were ordered to assist potentially infected passengers and also enforce restrictions on them. (A spokesperson for Princess Cruises said that the company followed the orders of government officials, which is required by law in a quarantine situation.)

Over multiple phone conversations and e-mails, the crew member, who is now in an off-site quarantine facility, described how she and other employees acted as watchdogs, served meals, delivered supplies, and provided translation for physicians and officials. When Japanese government and military officials boarded the ship to assist the crew, medicine shortages and a lack of information were causing frustration and anxiety among the passengers. This account, which has been translated, was edited for length and clarity.

“On February 5th, the company announced a quarantine to all the passengers. After that, some people’s job became a kind of a security guard who makes sure that passengers don’t leave their rooms. The others, like those who used to work in the restaurant, started delivering meals to all the rooms. At the beginning, they had such a hard time, and meals were regularly delayed.

“Every single day, I faced passengers. The first three days, passengers were nervous and confused and so frustrated by being confined to the room. In the following days, they started understanding the situation that they were in. They calmed down and became very coöperative. But I heard the sounds of coughing, frequently, from many of the rooms. And some of them were mentally unstable.

“All of the crew were given thermometers. If your body temperature exceeded 37.5 degrees Celsius [99.5 degrees Fahrenheit], you had to call specific numbers that were provided by the company, and then go to see a doctor, and then you would be placed in quarantine. But, at the beginning, the medical team was very busy with the passengers. So the crew members got put off, even though some were feeling sick. The crew was so anxious back then. [A company spokesperson said passengers and crew received equal medical treatment.]

“Many Japanese doctors were dispatched on board, but it seemed like they didn’t have the authority to decide how infected patients should be treated. They told me that they believed that most of the people on board had already been infected, but, if you were young or had strong immunity, the symptoms would just be similar to the regular flu. So, because of that, I wasn’t as afraid of the coronavirus as other people.

“We made a specific, restricted route for when we transported infected passengers to the ambulance, but even there we had so many random people. And sometimes there was so much demand that the ambulances couldn’t pick up patients on time. The crew can go anywhere on the ship, with basically no restriction, and I wasn’t sure where it was safe to go.

“Sometimes officials asked crew to help translate Spanish, Chinese, English, etc., to Japanese. Also, they sometimes needed directions, because the ship is huge. I guided doctors and U.S., Canadian, and Hong Kong government officials to cabins and knocked on the doors for them, wearing only a mask and gloves.

“We were told to keep at least one metre of distance with people, but, during work, that was impossible. I stayed with infected passengers to explain to them what was going to happen, escorted them from their cabins to the clinic, delivered medicine and supplies.

“At the beginning, a few of the crew members were against the order or reluctant to do the jobs that the company gave us. But, at the end of the day, we helped each other. However, the jobs were high-risk, such as transporting the infected people.
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“When I went to passengers’ rooms to deliver supplies, I saw that many had put cards with messages on their doors, thanking us for our work. Some of them were beautifully decorated. We also received many thank-you letters, which motivated us.

“There were so many infected people with no symptoms on board. They even surprised themselves. For example, there were spouses—the husband had a test, due to having the symptoms of the flu, while the wife, who did not have any symptoms, also had the test, just because she was in the same room with him—he was negative, but she was positive. We should have done PCR [polymerase chain reaction] tests at the very beginning.

“When it comes to crew members, the situation was worse, partly because the passengers were mostly older people and the crew members are young, so the priority went to the high-risk elderly people. Some crew members had fevers of 37.5 degrees Celsius and got tested. Some had fevers of thirty-eight and thirty-nine degrees and still were not able to get tested. Many of them were neglected, left in their cabins.

“But I don’t think I am going to change my career. I want to go back to the cruise ship. I really love my job; I can go literally all over the world doing what I want to do. It was definitely a horrible experience but, being on board the cruise ship, I am aware that there are risks, such as sinking. It is very unfortunate that people now have very negative thoughts about cruise ships.

“Sure, there are so many tough things we had to get through. I think we just had to do it—we had to work on the duties that the company gave us. It is what it is. I don’t think it’s the company’s fault; I feel more like it’s the government’s fault, because the company was under the control of the Japanese government.”

Masaki Tanisawa contributed reporting to this story.