Thanks to years of battling norovirus, cruise ships may actually be in a unique position to craft COVID-19-free vacations. Although no one was initially prepared to handle the pandemic, previous lessons learned from managing other viruses will help the cruise industry alleviate transmission now — and into the future.
In fact, comparisons between the gastrointestinal norovirus (sometimes referred to as the Norwalk virus) and COVID-19 were made many times at this year’s Seatrade Cruise Virtual convention, and data was often encouraging.
"The good news is that the virus is actually very easily killed compared to our old foe in the cruise lines, which is norovirus,” said Dr. Grant Tarling, group senior vice president and chief medical officer for Carnival Corporation. “I think we’re quite good with the environmental control of COVID-19.”
Grant pointed out that while COVID-19 transmission can occur via contact with hard surfaces and soft furnishing, exposure through aerosol droplets is much more common. In some cases, simple disinfectants neutralize the coronavirus in less than 30 seconds, while norovirus is an “extremely difficult virus to kill,” and can survive on surfaces for weeks.
For Simon Mockler, head of advisory for the Americas for DNV GL, a risk management and quality assurance organization for the maritime industry, preparing for coronavirus is mostly a matter of “dialing up something that’s already in our toolbox” and “tailoring the right barriers in the right order to match the risk profile that we’re being exposed to.”
That means taking existing measures, such as screening processes and onboard transmission mitigation and customizing them for COVID-19. According to Mockler, risk can differ from ship to ship and from itinerary to itinerary.
“There is not a one-size-fits-all solution," he said. “It’s going to look quite similar to what we have done in the past for other pathogens.”
There is not a one-size-fits-all solution. It’s going to look quite similar to what we have done in the past for other pathogens.
There are several ways that reducing exposure to COVID-19 is similar to cruise line protocols against norovirus.
For example, Bud Darr, executive vice president, maritime policy and government affairs for MSC Group, pointed to how self-service buffets have temporarily become full-service.
"With our protocols for norovirus — and they've been around forever — once we reached an enhanced level of protection for that, we were kind of used to that model anyway,” he said. “We do know how to do it.”
To get a further sense of just how detailed the cruise line response has been to the coronavirus, Royal Caribbean International has outlined its extensive approach to restarting sailings in Singapore as currently scheduled for December. It should provide a sense of what clients can eventually anticipate in North America as well. Fully explained is the industry-wide commitment to 100% testing of guests and crew prior to boarding, enhanced air filtration and cleaning, capacity reductions, facial covering expectations, med-evac protocols and upgraded medical facilities.
Graphics illustrate how applied strategies and technologies will work to keep everyone onboard safe and healthy throughout the ship, from the sports and pool decks to cabins and medical facilities. The latter is particularly impressive for its inclusion of separate general care and controlled care zones for proper isolation, as needed.
Of course, some measures such as mask wearing and social distancing, will be loosened later on. Those should only be expected at the “initial resumption” of cruising, according to Donnie Brown, vice president of maritime policy at Cruise Lines International Association, who envisions “being able to scale them back in time.”
Until then, one of the simplest precautions remains for norovirus and coronavirus alike: Please wash your hands.
