The Caribbean nation of St. Lucia has quarantined a cruise ship on the island after identifying a confirmed case of measles on board, a health official said.
Passengers and crew members aboard the large ship were not permitted to leave, Dr. Merlene Fredericks-James, the nation’s chief medical officer, said on Tuesday. The highly infectious disease, which can be mostly prevented by a common vaccination, is in the midst of its largest outbreak in a quarter-century in the United States, with more than 700 cases reported.
“Because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make a decision not to allow anyone to disembark,” she said in a statement.
Dr. Fredericks-James did not name the ship. But Victor Theodore, a St. Lucia Coast Guard sergeant, told NBC News that it was identified as “Freewinds,” which is reportedly owned and operated by the Church of Scientology. A ship by the same name was moored in St. Lucia on Thursday morning, according to online records.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Friday May 03 2019, @01:38PM (2 children)
The government of Caribbean islands can look at incoming cruise ships as a simple monetary proposition: let one dock and you inject X thousand dollars into the local economy (X ranging from tens to high hundreds...)
If this particular ship is carrying a disease that has potential to outbreak on the island, letting this one dock could potentially cause more than one to bypass in the future... 2X > X, easy call.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 03 2019, @05:18PM
This is a monetary good idea, but the jump to the assumption that that's what's driving it. Preventing pain and suffering from preventable diseases seems like a "good idea," and quarantining plague ships is a thing which was historically done.
The same logic could be said to, "walking to the grocery store 1 block away is cheaper than going to my car and driving it, so it's an obvious monetary decision."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 04 2019, @08:04AM
Not a cruise ship, a Tom Cruise ship. Vastly different.