Diamond Princess - 4th death due to COVID-19

According to the NY Post, a fourth passenger from the ill-fated Diamond Princess died while quarantined in Japan following contracting the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) aboard the ship. The four who have died were all in their 80s.

To date, approximately 700 of the passengers of the Diamond Princess have been infected with COVID-19. While the majority of them are receiving treatment in Japan, a number of those who contracted the virus were among those who have been repatriated to their respective countries.

The ship turned into a petri dish

While the cruise line, Princess Cruise Lines, a subsidiary of Carnival Corporation has been pummeled for the Yokohama, Japan quarantine which essentially made the ship a floating petri dish, they are not totally to blame. The Japanese Ministry of Health demanded the ship be placed in quarantine, but then failed to bring forward personnel to facilitate the order.

This placed the captain of the Diamond Princess in the difficult spot of having to administer a quarantine and care for passengers with a crew whose expertise were in customer service, not medical service provider.

Who is going to clean the Diamond Princess?

According to Princess Cruises president, Jan Swartz, ” Our focus continues to be on the safety and well being of our guests and crew. We are seeking to identify the best resources to partner with to clean and disinfect the ship from bow to stern.”

Which begs the obvious question:

“Will you cruise on the Diamond Princess when it is placed back in service in May 2020?”

To learn more about travel to and from the United States, we commend to your attention: COVID-19 update for travelers to and from the U.S.

To help insure that the most current information is available, we have mirrored the CDC COVID-19 site, accessing via the menu above, or this link: CDC COVID19 Information

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