When the severity of coronavirus became apparent, China used a drastic method to forestall its rapid spread: quarantine. Now the same method is being applied to cruise ships, with mixed results.
Two ships are stranded at sea — housing nearly 5,000 crew and passengers. One, with 1,400 passengers, has finally found a home — after being turned away from five international ports. Holland America's Westerdam was refused entry by Japan, Guam, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
On Wednesday, Cambodia said it would allow the ship — which does not appear to have any cases of the virus at this time — to dock, the cruise line confirmed in a statement.
The World Health Organization's Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on a Wednesday conference call with journalists said the body, along with the International Maritime Organization, "will issue a communiqué to all countries to respect the principle of 'free pratique' for ships and the principle of proper care for all travelers, in accordance with the International Health Regulations."
He said Cambodia's acceptance "is an example of the international solidarity we have consistently been calling for. Outbreaks can bring out the best and worst in people."
Crisis management experts have raised concerns about the methods of shutting in cruise ship passengers and crew.
"I know it's a very stressful situation for the people that are onboard the ship. They are in a confined environment. They are essentially being isolated from each other," Brian Salerno, SVP of maritime policy for Cruise Lines International Association, told Cheddar Wednesday afternoon. He said the goal is to "minimize contact among people."
The cruise ship experiment also may have been for naught as the virus jumped to shore through a Japanese official, who tested positive for the virus after surveying passengers held in quarantine in the port of Yokohama.
The Diamond Princess, which has been quarantined for a week after a passenger who disembarked in Hong Kong tested positive, has reported 175 infected individuals so far among the 3,600 crew and passengers. That makes the floating city home to the largest concentration of cases of the recently named COVID-19 disease outside of China.
"There have been instances in the last decade or two of global health emergencies and the industry is well-practiced in ramping up its procedures," Salerno said."We've been through this type of procedure before."
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
The State Department had been in talks with Elon Musk’s Tesla company to buy armored electric vehicles, but the plans have been put on hold by the Trump administration after reports emerged about a potential $400 million purchase. A State Department spokesperson said the electric car company owned by Musk was the only one that expressed interest back in May 2024. The deal with Tesla was only in its planning phases but it was forecast to be the largest contract of the year. It shows how some of his wealth has come and was still expected to come from taxpayers.
At 100 years old, the Goodyear Blimp is an ageless star in the sky. The 246-foot-long airship will be in the background of the Daytona 500 — flying roughly 1,500 feet above Daytona International Speedway, actually — to celebrate its greatest anniversary tour. Even though remote camera technologies are improving regularly and changing the landscape of aerial footage, the blimp continues to carve out a niche. At Daytona, with the usual 40-car field racing around a 2½-mile superspeedway, views from the blimp aptly provide the scope of the event.
You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
