Covid-19 discussion

It sounds like they are vaccinated, and are asymptomatic. From what I was reading. Which is fine and part of what the vaccines are supposed to achieve right?

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Agree. If airline passengers were tested with the same frequency as cruiseship passengers are, I think we would see the same thing happening.

(These stories are also super confusing because they are reporting about the Millenium and an MSC ship at the same time. One had vaccinated passengers traveling together, the other unvaccinated, not traveling together.)

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Ahhh that is confusing.

Yeah, part of the benefit of a vaccinated only cruise is even if people do get a positive, thereā€™s nowhere for it to go.

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Sorry should have specified when I posted that, my concern is seeing this in ships where proof of vaccination and negative tests was required and here we have an idiot governor who has made it illegal to require vaccinations. Businesses can be fined up to $5,000 per person they ask about vaccination status.

Also cruise ships were floating petri dishes of doom even before covid so the whole thing just seems like a bad idea.

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Ooooh yes. Your governorā€¦ well, I wish I believed in an afterlife so that he could answer for his actions some day :neutral_face:

And yes, cruise ships squick me out to a high degree as a baseline, covid or not.

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I feel like all my postings on this thread should carry a warning.

ā€œ:warning: Author lives in Florida and all commentary must be viewed through a lens of absolute bat shittery. People living in places where reasonable precautions are taken may not comprehend :warning:ā€

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For some reason I always remember thatā€™s where Meer is, but I forget thats where you are!

Is there a Florida specific forum badge? There should be :grimacing:

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Aaaaaaaaay-men.

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I saw that Carnival is not requiring vaccination, but is currently trying to get by with an idea that only 5% of the ship cannot have shown their vaccine. So if you choose not to show it, you are put into a lottery to remain on the ship. But itā€™s completely ā€œvoluntaryā€. (Kids count in that 5%, as they obviously canā€™t show they are vaccinated.)

I like to cruise, and I get they are petri dishes of filth, but I feel like at this point, if we are allowed to fly for funnsies, we should be allowed to cruise to. I really donā€™t see how the risk is much different. Both ways you are trapped in close confines with a lot of people. The airlines ā€œrequiredā€ masks, except when eating or drinking, then served us snacks, so most people took their masks off for more than half the flight.

But my posts need an Iowa warning, because covid is clearly over here, and has been since like last fall. No one here cares about it anymore. (Though apparently we have decently high-for-a-red-state vaccination rates.)

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Oh I absolutely think people should be ALLOWED to. I just wonā€™t be partaking.

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Agree. I love cruising, but I will not be going on one anytime soon.

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Length of time and number of people are the big ones for me. Even the longest flight is going to come in under 24 hours and the most packed airplane will expose you to a max of around 800 people. Compare that to 7, 10 and 15 day cruises with a couple thousand people onboard.

I think people should be able to go on cruises, I just canā€™t imagine wanting to under current circumstances. Also not implementing as many safety features as possible.

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Length of time and number of people are the big ones for me. Even the longest flight is going to come in under 24 hours and the most packed airplane will expose you to a max of around 800 people. Compare that to 7, 10 and 15 day cruises with a couple thousand people onboard.

I think you could easily choose to social distance on a cruise depending on what activities you partake in. They are also doing a bit of a bubble, that you can only leave the ship with a ship excursion now. (A bubble, and a money grab.) Currently it seems like the cruises are also monitoring locations on the ship, so contract tracing is easily done, along with how much time you were in proximity of that person. Whereas, on an airplane, you are within a few inches of another person. And even if itā€™s a thousand, itā€™s the same thousand. Airplane, you are exposed to yourself, and potentially the many hundreds of people that were on the connecting flights of the people before you. And zero chance of contact tracing.

I just think cruises are being really unfairly demonized. Either we can get together with people, or we canā€™t.

At least unlike schools, people have a choice to go on a cruise. Being forced to go to school where none of your peers are wearing masks is infuriating. I mean I guess the ā€œchoiceā€ is homeschool, but thatā€™s not really a choice for most people.

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I went a cruise many years ago. It was awesome! I agree @anon51297825 you can social distance a good amount, much more so than on a plane. I spent the majority of my time out on the top deck in the fresh air.

Masking in stores has gone waaaaaaay down over the last couple days when itā€™s been muggy AF. I canā€™t say I blame anyone- Iā€™m tempted to lose my mask as well, but I hate breaking rules and Iā€™m unclear what stores want what right now. And Iā€™m lazy for research. But ughhh muggy.

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I was shocked that everyone at Aldi had one on today.

I am unclear too! I went to the garden center, which is completely outdoors and masks are optional if vaxxed. I at first had mine off, because it wasnā€™t crowded and I donā€™t wear one outside unless in a crowd (note, I have not yet been IN a crowd outside yet). Most customers didnā€™t have one. But then I saw the cashiers had them on and I thought, well, I donā€™t want to be disrespectful or make their job harder, so I put it on. This stuff is going to take a while to figure out, I think.

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100%. Can someone give us an etiquette guide? :sweat_smile:

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Seriously! The sign at my grocery store says something like ā€œwe strongly encourage people who are not vaccinated to continue wearing masksā€, which is like, great politician speak. Just say what you want! I wasnā€™t going to wear mine, but then everyone was masked inside and I didnā€™t want to invite an altercation so I wore mine too. I also got a death glare and ā€œyou should really wear a maskā€ on a maskless walk in a very spaced out park, where me and the other person were like 10+ feet away. On the flip side my lyft driver the other day said she was ā€œmehā€ on getting a vaccine at all, ever. Itā€™s a weird time. I think a lot of people are running on pure emotion at this point. We have masked vaccinated people who are terrified and unmasked unvaccinated people who are super unbothered, lol.

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We have those signs that @AllHat mentioned everywhere too :slight_smile: As far as I can tell most of the employees in our local stores still have to wear masks, though, so I have been as well, even though theyā€™re not technically required in our area anymore.

As of today employees at the grocery store I work at are no longer required to mask. Iā€™m very curious how it will go. Thereā€™s a small chance that some employees will be assholes to the ones who choose not to mask, and I really hope that doesnā€™t happen. Our community is over the 60% vaxxed rate and people absolutely are allowed to wear masks forever as far as Iā€™m concerned, if they choose to. But I really hope it doesnā€™t become (any more than it already has) a thing where it splits people and judgement is cast. Itā€™s just really hard to communicate with people/customers through plexi and masks and the temptation to shed that now that weā€™re allowed and itā€™s relatively safe? Itā€™s real.

I havenā€™t personally decided how Iā€™m going to do things tomorrow when I go in. Iā€™ll probably start with a mask and see how I feel. :slight_smile:

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