Channel: Jim Zim

Category: Travel & Events

Tags: covidinfectiondetectquarantinedlabviruspreventoutbreakjim zimpcrpreventionvikingcruise shipviking ocean cruisedetectionviking skyviking ocean cruisestestingicelandcovid-192021positivecruisingjim zimmerlinlaboratorypassengerquarantinepcr testincidentinfect

Description: About half way through a 7-day Iceland cruise, the cruise line discovered that one of the other passengers had Covid-19! This is the story of how it was detected, how the cruise line and the government of Iceland reacted, and how they prevented the one infected passenger from infecting any others and causing a big Covid outbreak onboard. We were on the Viking Sky cruise ship, with Viking Ocean Cruises. Normally, a cruise ship isn't a very good place to be during a global pandemic, but a cruise with Viking is VERY different. Not only had every passenger and crew member proven that they had been vaccinated against Covid, but also daily PCR tests were done to all passengers and crew to verify that no one had an active case of Covid. Remember, just because you've been vaccinated does NOT mean you can't get Covid... it just means you almost certainly won't get a serious or fatal case. The one passenger that tested positive for Covid had absolutely no symptoms at all. But if it hadn't been detected, that passenger might have infected other people on the ship, or local residents in Iceland during shore excursions. In addition to daily PCR testing, Viking Ocean Cruises employs several other important measures to detect Covid cases and prevent the spread of Covid onboard the ship. This video will walk you through how all that works, and discuss how Viking's strategy is so hugely superior to the way some other cruise lines are dealing with the issue of Covid right now. Simply put, some of the other cruise lines are just doing the minimum required by government regulation but not going to the lengths that Viking is to detect and prevent the spread of the virus. I think the truth is that some of the other cruise lines don't really want to know if passengers have Covid. It's easier and less expensive for them if they don't know. So, they don't do daily testing like Viking does. I felt a lot safer knowing the lengths that Viking was going to in detecting and preventing the spread of the virus. What happened during our cruise, with one passenger testing positive and immediately being quarantined... and then no other passengers or crew testing positive during the rest of the cruise, is proof that Viking's strategy is a good one and will prevent a single infected passenger from causing an outbreak. Video Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:42 Testing Is The Key 1:18 Announcements 2:41 How Testing Is Done 3:24 Incubation 4:10 The Infected Passenger 4:38 Contact Tracing 6:04 Other Safety Measures 7:15 UV Disinfection 8:19 Social Distancing 8:58 Face Masks 10:26 Iceland's Rules 10:54 Iceland's Over-reaction 12:00 Final Thoughts If you're interested in booking a cruise on Viking, or on any cruise line, feel free to use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher. She's a real gem! She'll take care of all the details of setting up your travel properly for you, and keep you from making any rookie mistakes with your plans. Also, if you run in to any trouble while you're travelling, it's great to have a travel agent on your side. It's far better to have your travel agent stuck on hold with the cruise line than to have to wait on hold yourself in order to straighten out a problem. Visit Caitlin's web site at ambrentravel.com or email her at caitlin@ambrentravel.com