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  2020-03-11

  COVID Response Team Awaits the New Day

  When the outbreak first began back in February and at the beginning of March, I was a waitress at the Walnut Creek Marriott experiencing cutbacks in my service to others as well as in the number of guests received at my hotel. However, the Federal Government sent a team of specialists from the CDC to Walnut Creek, CA in order to help treat patients stuck in quarantine on the Grand Princess Cruise Liner. At the time, people were not being allowed off the ship due to the viral concerns, and the team treated most if not all their patients at Travis Air Force Base. These doctors worked relentlessly long hours and would leave at the very start of the day and return so very wiped out. I continued to serve this group until I was laid off from the company in mid April
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  2020-04-25

  Did Cruise Companies Act too Late?

  All it took was one passenger who disembarked a week before others began to fall ill, to quarantine all passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess by February 4th. Given the dire nature of these outbreaks, many have asked – did the cruise companies act too late? This Washington Post article outlines the experiences of the Celebrity Eclipse and Coral Princess, where before passengers could disembark, the two ships reported 150 Covid-19 cases and six deaths in April. At the time the article was written, the cruise industry reported outbreaks on 55 ships in waters across the globe and 65 deaths among passengers and crew. The article alleges that the industry failed to recognize the signs and symptoms of Covid-19, which later were confirmed as positive cases. Further concerning allegations from the article claim that cruise ships brought Covid-19 to ports and cities around the globe that were otherwise virus-free, where many places lacked the infrastructure to handle large-scale outbreaks.