Dear CDC – Should My Mom Go On Her Cruise?
My 91 year old Mother is scheduled to go on a 6 day cruise in the Caribbean with her friends and all their walkers. Clearly, Coronavirus has changed the nature of the small talk from best-buffet-items to “what type of mask should I take.”
My mom at 90 is the new 75 – active, sharp as a tack, albeit walking on sorely uncooperative knees.
Predictably, as the departure date nears, my internet savvy, text fluent Mom has consumed and shared a barrage of CNN alerts, CDC updates and random blog posts, sprinkled with a healthy dose of what Edna–at-the-pool’s son told her.
By last Friday Mom had me contacting my colleagues in public health (none working on infectious diseases, mind you) to find out what they thought about going on a cruise right now. No one had more than personal guidance and thought I should check out what CDC was advising. ( You may have noticed I’ve been combing the CDC since the outbreak was reported).
Ever hopeful, I did. Let’s take a look at what I found and importantly didn’t find.
is about China. No help there.
Resources for Ships – Now we’re getting somewhere.!
But we find info about disinfecting ships and Zika.
Hmmm. Still nothing.
Quarantine
The last few days the talk’s been about “quarantine”.
Over seafood salads at their Florida condo deli, Eva is more than annoyed. “Why would they keep all those people on a ship with sick people. I’ve never heard anything so stupid in my life.”
1. So I go to the CDC again to read about Quarantine
This first link yields this brief definition:
2. Let’s try the next obvious link: History of Quarantine
Some fascinating stuff here –
From the Middle Ages
“The practice of quarantine, as we know it, began during the 14th century in an effort to protect coastal cities from plague epidemics.” … and the Italian origins of the word quaranta giorni (which means 40 days).
To Today:
The Division of Global Migration and Quarantine is part of CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and is headquartered in Atlanta. Quarantine stations are located in Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, El Paso, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. (see contact lists and map).
It’s Tuesday 2-18-20. Mom’s cruise is 10 days away. And this daughter, with her PhD and 40 years of experience working in communicating public health finds herself in this cone of uncertainty and lack of useful information from any trusted sources.
And the ladies who cruise:
“Annie, what’s the big deal. The media is trying to scare you. How awful could it be to get a few more days on the ship. Esther said the Princess Diamond is gorgeous. “
As Mom’s best friend Molly said yesterday, “If that boat leaves, I’ll be on it.”
Mom hasn’t started talking about packing yet.