Jump to content
  • We'd love for you to participate.

    Create an account

    Ask questions, share experiences and connect.

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now

CDC inspection reports - Cruise workers breaking the rules when it comes to norovirus reporting

Rate this topic


Jason

Recommended Posts

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The Contact 5 Investigators discovered something alarming on board that’s not often mentioned. Could cruise ship workers be putting you at risk?

NewsChannel 5 searched through hundreds of inspection reports for every cruise ship that comes in and out of U.S. ports and discovered it’s not always passengers that are getting sick, it’s also the people who serve you.

Cruise ships are huge floating resorts that are ready to whisk passengers away from it all. But there’s a flip side to that reality – getting sick.

“I started feeling nausea and the diarrhea came in,” said Jose Nasuti. He has been on more than two dozen cruises. “I really just feel it’s the best bargain out there,” said Nasuti.

But he didn’t bargain for what happened on his last adventure.

“I lost eight pounds in four days… and literally you’re going at both ends,” he said.

Nasuti claimed he picked up the stomach bug at the tail end of his vacation on board the Carnival Freedom last year. “I found out three of the six people I went on the cruise will all got sick, all had the same problems,” he said.

Passengers can spread the norovirus, but who’s watching out for the crew members?

Inspection reports for a different cruise over the last year on the Carnival Freedom show a butcher got sick on board back in June and didn’t tell the on board doctor until the next day. Plus, they claim he continued working while having symptoms.

If you'd like to look up medical reporting problems for any ship, click here.

“There’s no excuse for that, once a guy’s feeling sick he has to be quarantined,” said Nasuti.

It was a similar case for a waiter back in January. Reports show the worker was “given a warning. ”

Inspectors with the Centers for Disease Control say workers are required to report an illness right away. Plus, food workers are supposed to be isolated for at least two days, but that’s not always happening.

The Contact 5 Investigators checked on about 170 ships that come in and out of U.S. ports. Fifty nine of those ships had workers that didn’t report the illness properly, according to inspection reports. There was a total of 130 workers from waiters, to bartenders, to workers who wash the dishes.

Inspection reports for the Allure of the Seas show a café attendant worked the day she was sick and “broke medical isolation” to go to the laundry room and to the ship’s café.

On the Freedom of the Seas, a worker who cleans the ship had diarrhea and stomach cramps but didn’t report it until 12 hours later and continued cleaning.

The Centers for Disease Control is in charge of inspecting cruise ships at least once a year while they’re docked at a port.

“If you have a food worker who's ill who's working with food, that' a common, really a classic way to transmit illness,” said Captain Jaret Ames, Chief of CDC’s Vessel Sanitation Program

“It's absolutely wrong and it's absolutely a famous way to make people sick,” said Captain Ames.

The CDC can lower the ship’s inspection score because of it but it’s up to the cruise companies to discipline its own workers.

For more than a month, the Contact 5 Investigators tried calling, emailing and even showing up at the cruise line headquarters in Miami. No one was talking.

In a statement, Carnival said the company maintains a “zero tolerance policy” and that it has fired workers in the past for not reporting an illness.

“If you have nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea you should go to the medical facility as soon as possible,” said Dr. Bradley Feuer.

Feuer is a doctor who has traveled on more than 150 cruises. He said, for the most part, cruise companies do a good job of policing their own workers. It’s in their best interest to do so.

“They will take disciplinary action for employees who don't report in a timely fashion,” he said.

As for Nasuti, he said it won’t stop him from cruising. “Are you kidding me? No way, I’m definitely going to go on cruises, I love it,” he said.

But it will change how he cruises. “I’m carrying my own hand sanitizer with me this time,” he said.

In the past year, there have been 14 outbreaks of norovirus on board cruise ships. Almost 230 crew members have reported having the virus along with almost 2,400 passengers.

By Dan Krauth, WPTV.com - Impact 5 News

Re-posted on CruiseCrazies.com - Cruise News, Articles, Forums, Packing List, Ship Tracker, and more

http://www.cruisecrazies.com

Click here to view the article

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It continues to amaze me how the media will twist a story so hard they could get a drop of water from it!!! No where in the story do they mention where or how the crew members got the sickness to begin with. Nor does it mention the latest CDC inspection report of those vessels. REMEMBER, crew members are onboard 6 to 9 months per year. So, as I have stated in previous posts, and has been reported by the CDC in past years, the virus was brought onboard by a passenger! That's how they got sick. It all stems from inconsiderate passengers that do not want to miss their cruise. No matter how it inconveniences others!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree with all of your comments. But think about it -- how many times do you go to work (or the store) and are SURROUNDED by sick people??

There are signs posted all over my work that state, if you are coughing, if you have a fever, if you feel slightly ill GO HOME!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Contact 5 Investigators discovered something alarming on board that’s not often mentioned. Could cruise ship workers be putting you at risk?

NewsChannel 5 searched through hundreds of inspection reports for every cruise ship that comes in and out of U.S. ports and discovered it’s not always passengers that are getting sick, it’s also the people who serve you.

Being a fan of cruising, I read a lot of cruise news. Over the last ten years or so, a lot of that news has been about shipboard illness. In almost every case the stories list exactly how many passengers and crew were sick that week. And yet they’ve “discovered it’s not always passengers that are getting sick”. That’s some top notch investigative reporting there Channel 5! :rolleyes2:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...