Anonymous
Currently, there are no cases of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Santa Barbara County. The health risk from COVID-19 to the public remains low at this time. However, with the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. and California, the public has expressed concern in regards to the health and screening of cruise ship passengers disembarking in Santa Barbara Harbor.
Santa Barbara County officials have been planning and preparing should COVID-19 be identified in the county. The County Public Health Department (PHD) is working closely with its healthcare partners and providing ongoing guidance and alerts in close coordination with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
To address concerns about arriving cruise ships, the PHD has assessed the situation and collaborated with the City of Santa Barbara, Waterfront Department to compile the following frequently asked questions.
Q. What measures are being taken to ensure the safety of community members when cruise ships arrive in Santa Barbara?
A. Cruise ships are subject to federal and global regulations as outlined below. When sailing in U.S. waters and calling in U.S. ports, cruise vessels are subject to rules and regulations set by the (CDC), Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) and the U.S. Coast Guard. In addition to this, Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) sets standards for membership, including medical care and public health. CLIA has recently set cruise ship standards in response to COVID-19 for companies that belong to their organization. This includes denying boarding to passengers who have traveled from countries of concern, as well as increased screening procedures.
Additionally, a number vessels arriving in the Santa Barbara Harbor meet healthcare standards set by the International Standards Organization (ISO), whose stringent standards focus on a variety topics, including public health and infection control methods. NOTE: travel restrictions and healthcare standards applied for guests are also applied to crew members.
Practices used by cruise ships to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
|
Practices |
Point of Origin: Domestic & Global |
|
Health screening of passengers and crew prior to boarding cruise ship to Santa Barbara |
Required |
|
Guests and crew prohibited from boarding cruise ship traveling to Santa Barbara if there is a suspect travel history |
Required |
|
Sanitation measures taken during journey |
Required |
|
Reporting of communicable diseases to relevant agencies prior to arrival in Santa Barbara |
Required |
Q. What additional screening is done prior to guest and crew disembarking?
A. Many cruise lines have mechanisms in place to prevent the disembarkation of guests and crew who are being actively monitored for infectious illnesses. Increased screening protocols prior to boarding the vessel reduces the risk of infection onboard.
Q. Should I wear a mask when cruise passengers are in Santa Barbara?
A. Masks are not recommended when a cruise ship arrives in Santa Barbara. CDC recommendations state that masks are not an effective method for the public to protect themselves from a respiratory illness such as COVID-19. Public health officials remind the public to stay vigilant and continue to practice routine hygiene methods to prevent the spread of any virus, such as:
o Frequent hand washing with soap and water
o Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands
o Cover your mouth when you sneeze or cough with your arm or tissue (discard tissue)
o Stay home if you are sick
Q. Could the situation that occurred on the Diamond Princess Cruise ship occur again?
A. The extraordinary situation that occurred on the Diamond Princess is unlikely to repeat. At the time of the Diamond Princess situation, COVID-19 was fairly new and screening procedures were not fully developed. Since then, many of the cruise lines stopping in Santa Barbara have developed robust screening protocols for crew and guests, increased sanitization procedures, and developed protocols for refusing guest and crew based on their travel history. Additionally, new government restrictions and advisories are in place to help mitigate the risk of spreading the virus.
Q. How does the City of Santa Barbara handle concerns with COVID-19 and other infectious diseases on cruise ships?
A. The City relies on direction from the County PHD, CDC, CBP, and USCG with regards to infection control. CBP has jurisdiction and decision-making authority with regards to vessel clearance, quarantine and other requirements. USCG and CBP, with guidance from the CDC, are responsible for tracking cruise ship and cargo vessel arrival. Additionally, they have increased the Notice of Arrival requirements for inbound vessels from 4 days to 14 days. CBP and USCG are actively tracking vessel arrivals based upon crew demographics and recent ports of call and will evaluate every vessel arrival for potential exposure and/or infection.
Q. What happens if a cruise ship bound for Santa Barbara has someone experiencing COVID-19 symptoms?
A. In the event a passenger or crew member tests positive for COVID-19, the ship would be diverted to one of three West Coast quarantine stations (San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego). The CDC guidelines and response procedures related to cruise ships passengers and crew are posted online at: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/maritime/recommendations-for-ships.html
Q. Does the City plan to halt cruise ships coming to Santa Barbara?
A. As of now, the City has not cancelled any scheduled cruise ship visits, but will continue to monitor the situation and take actions based on recommendations from the PHD, CDC and CBP. The CDC and CBP evaluate each incoming cruise ship and will not allow it to port/disembark in Santa Barbara unless it is deemed safe to do so. To date, no instances of COVID-19 have been identified at the nearby ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach or Hueneme. If there is a concern about any vessel arriving in Southern California ports, the Coast Guard will share all relevant information to appropriate agencies to ensure public health concerns are addressed.
Q. How many cruise ships port in Santa Barbara per year? Where are most cruise ships from and what routes do they take?
A. The City typically receives around 30 cruise ships per year scheduled during the spring and fall. The majority of the cruises originate in San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego travelling on West Coast routes. The vast majority of passengers are from the United States and Canada.
Q. What cruise ships are scheduled to port in Santa Barbara?
A. The cruise ship schedule is posted on the City’s website at www.santabarbaraca.gov/gov/depts/waterfront/events/cruiseship.asp.
For additional reliable information on COVID-19, please visit the following websites.
By an edhat reader
Is the City of Santa Barbara taking coronavirus precautions with the cruise ships that are scheduled to dock here?
The current schedule has the next one arriving Wednesday (3/4/20) with another on March 24 and 25th.
Stay home, don’t go downtown, don’t associate with cruise ship passengers. The viruses can stay infectious on hard surfaces for up to 9 days depending on temperature and humidity (hotter temps and less humidity decreases their survivability) so that is how long you need to worry if a sick person has been in a public place.
Cruise ships isolate sick passengers themselves so they will keep any symptomatic passengers onboard in themselves. . They don’t want them infecting other passengers or crew members either. Let alone being let loose Pay attention to how badly the Yokohama “quarantine” was handled and you can rest assured the cruise industry has zero interest or benefit participating in any increased infection risks. or even reputation for increased infection exposures. Keeping in mind, any closed system like day care centers, schools, nursing homes, dormitories, retirement communities and cruise ships can have infection transmission problems from time to time. One more mob hysteria over kill wrongly targeting for reasons yet to be explained. No, those were not “funny baby ruth” bars you saw floating in the ocean, unless they came down from our own creekside vagrant camps. We have people defecating and urinating all over this town, and people want to gang up on cruise ships. C’mon, get a grip and direct your hysteria where it can hit the best targets: the public health and safety risks we keep maintaining in our own community 24/7/365 – the vagrant camps.
Source your information please. Where do you get this assertion ” viruses can stay infectious on hard surfaces for up to 9 days”?
I copied and pasted those words into google and got https://www.sciencealert.com/study-shows-just-how-long-coronaviruses-can-stick-around-on-a-surface , https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/coronaviruses-how-long-can-they-survive-on-surfaces#How-long-do-coronaviruses-persist? etc.
Unsurprisingly, you were heavily downvoted, perhaps because you associate what you call “vagrant camps” with the coronavirus threat. However, the point is well taken as far as it goes. The problem is that efforts to “shut down” campers and pressure them into “cohorts” ie. indoor dormitories of one kind or another would actually make things far, far worse, subjecting them to airborne infection. Open air camps may be tidy or they may be disorganized rubble however they segregate potentially infectious vectors. Either way, the term “vagrant camps” is perjorative and with all the trollery online, more judicious language will go a long way to better dialogue and, who knows, maybe the web-based communications media will allow rational discussion rather than flame wars and reciprocal accusations of “personal attacks”.
Homesteading on open and undeveloped federal lands has long been an American tradition .Good to bring this concept back if people want to provide for their own food and shelter, but in a proper and legal setting. The good old days, remember? We can do this and solve the issue of unpermitted vagrancy camps. There is plenty of empty federal land. Salud Carbjal should have been working on this .But he didn’t. Just the opposite, he is making any use of federal lands virtually impossible. Where is his compassion?
Vagrant camps are known disease vectors. Not necessarily connected to corona per se at this time, but far more problematically to the black plague and other far more serious disease contaminations.
Or all of the people who own cars and drive here daily… It’s all about the hype and panic. It’s the media and some people here that are driving it. Hardware stores don’t have dust masks and grocery stores are out of TP. Not because of Covid-19, because of the media and everyone else freaking out.
Ahhhhhh!!!!! OMG people.
If the stores don’t run out of cold beer I will be a happy camper.
Wouldn’t that be just lovely if the Princess ship was quarantined here in SB for a month or so? Think of the extra revenue for the city. No wait, maybe not.
Why would the city take precautions. As long as the boat isn’t coming from a known hot spot. We have people getting off planes at the airport not being screened 24/7. Why would there be special preparations for the cruise ship?
Grand Princess passenger just diagnosed. Cruise went from SF down coast to Mexico. The virus will be brought here unfortunately
Just install a real large Sneeze Shield around the boat!
No. The city is not taking pre-cautions. How much caution should be afforded? What should it be compared to? Is the city taking pre-cautions against those on board who have the flu? This Corona virus is novel and thus new to our lives. There are many uncertainties that warrant precaution and awareness. However, it opens up conversation to many things (like the flu) that we’ve all been accustomed to living with regardless of the potential, negative outcomes. The main prerogative now is to start all your prepardedness from yourself and build it outward. Person, family, home, neighborhood, community, city, state, federal. Way Too Much emphasis is being pushed upwards towards policy that fails. This failure is not political. Political is nothing but the argument of this or that. It’s simpler in nature. We need to take care of ourselves first. It’s why you can have laws about crosswalks (government and policy) but it’s also foolish to step into a crosswalk without first looking both ways. Now, more than ever, look both ways. Be prepared from the bottom up.
The first person to die from the coronavirus here in CA was on the Grand Princess on the cruise prior to the current cruise and another from it has the virus and was taken to an undisclosed location. Others from that cruise are being watched and the current cruise has canceled it’s Ensenada stop having being directed immediately back to San Francisco, it’s embarkation port. This shows urgency as it goes against the Jones Act since it was a San Francisco to Hawaii cruise and is now not stopping at a foreign port.
This ship is scheduled to stop here on it’s next cruise the upcoming 24th of this month. Princess claims it will have thorough screening and disinfecting in SF and has not as of yet cancelled. We’ll see how receptive MX is after this latest news breaks.
One thing that is 100% for sure, unlike everything said in this release from the public health department, is that if the cruise ship not allowed to disembark passengers here, no one in Santa Barbara will be infected with COVID 19 from those passengers. Our city council is gambling with our lives for a little revenue from a cruise ship.
How quaint, you think you left no easily searchable trail with an e-visa?
Actually not 100% since they think the present transfer from the SF cruise death passenger to others happened on an airport shuttle. The stops here are coastal and relocation cruises and numerous posts on cruise critic say they also stop here with rental cars or by Amtrak as many drive back to LA or San Diego after disembarking in SF or Seattle. So many that can’t stop on the cruise might be here a few days or a week later.
The one SF cruise passenger to Mexico who recently died, who also conicidentally tested for corona was very elderly with underlying health problems. They are vulnerable to flu period. In fact in hospital circles, flu was once called ‘the old man’s friend”. LATimes has the full story. Cruising always attracts an older crowd, particularly when schools are in session. People do die on cruise ships, just like anywhere else. They have special refrigerated morgues for them onboard. Ever hear of bucket lists, things people want to do before they die. Travel often ranks at the top of the list. How does that affect the co-morbidity for corona exposure?
For the 40 billionth time, COVID-19 is not the flu … it’s a different disease, caused by a different organism, and has a much higher mortality rate. And yes, of course, it hits older people harder — the mortality rate is over 14% (a lot higher than for the flu) among those 80 and over, and 8% (a lot higher than for the flu) among those 70-79. So yes, cruises are popular with older folks, but neither that or anything else in your comment is *relevant* to anything.
WASHINGTON — A medical professional who conducted passenger screenings at Los Angeles International Airport tested positive for the coronavirus late Tuesday night, according to the Department of Homeland Security and an internal email obtained by NBC News.
The person last worked screening air travelers for illness on Feb. 21, the DHS said in a statement, which also said the medical professional had worn the proper protective gear while working. The internal email described the person as a “contract medical screener” for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gov. Newsome 4:15pm Wed. press conference now. Grand Princess ship will be kept offshore and not allowed in port. Some passengers and crew members have developed symptoms. Test kits will be flown to ship, and keep ship offshore.
Grand Princess. “The GRAND PRINCESS cruise ship which stops often in Santa Barbara and is scheduled for a 3/24 visit has a message out to passengers on the Feb. 11-21 trip to Mexico from San Francisco about some reported illnesses. The current Mexico stop in Ensenada is off. It is returning to SF”– from John Palminteri’s Twitter today.
Grand Princess, report from Gov. Newsom, 11 passengers and 10 crew currently on the Grand Princess have reported symptoms.
I wonder if the undiagnosed have been tested and when we might heard of results. It only makes people wonder what’s really going on when PHD says we have no confirmed cases and just doesn’t fully explain status of the 10 suspect cases in SB County. From KCLU…
Santa Barbara County Public Health officials say ten people are currently self-quarantined in the county for possible coronavirus exposure. Again, there have been no diagnosed cases in Santa Barbara County.
“protocols for refusing guest and crew based on their travel history. ” And how is that history obtained? does anyone believe that a passenger is likely to say “oh, I was in Italy last month just before the cases showed up there?”
Where’d you get the 9 days figure? I heard 72 hours w/o any verification. This is an important issue so verifiable informatin would be highly appreciated.
Made me chuckle, and probably too little of that in this situation.
Second case from the Grand Princess reported this morning. Time to stop the cruise ships from coming here.
Grand Princess scheduled to come here on the 24th. That needs to be cancelled
the virus is coming, the virus is coming……..guess what, it’s already been here, people just didn’t realize it. No reason to panic
I hear all of you. Not panicking… just going to give State Street restaurants and stores a miss the next week or so during & after a cruise ship disenbarking… just because. I’m not alone. Its easy enough to do. Interesting sentence above: “Many cruise lines have mechanisms in place to prevent the disembarkation of guests”. Many, but not all? Hmmm. Thanks EH for this article.
Transient vagrants bring noxious diseases here every day. Cancel transient vagrants.
What do you do to protect yourself from the regular flu every year?
So were going to blame the homeless for this crap too no wonder your anonymous.
Been a long tims since we have seen the bubonic plague and typhoid fever, but those have been confirmed in the LA vagrant camps. So yes, vagrant camps are getting targeted for spreading diseases that we have not seen a long, long time. It is up to you if you rank corona flu virus over and above exposure to vagrant camp bubonic plague and typhoid.
Salud Carbajal is “protecting our coast” by making federal lands no-go for anything. How did you miss his last press release blast, timed right before the election?
Class envy? ROTFL! (rolling on the floor laughing)
I looked it up. ScienceAlert dot com. The really don’t know specifically about the Covid19 virus right now, so they evaluated the general class of corona viruses.
Virus has mutated , now 2 strains of Covid-19. Strain # 2 is weaker .
The Catalina Corona Mixer
Wow. Thanks for helping local workers to have a smaller paycheck this week! DON’T STOP going to restaurants! This is stupid and alarmist. Our local waiters and waitresses depend on customers to make a living. COME ON. Don’t be that person.
Your comment has literally ZERO to do with this article. And, yes, Salud Carbajal IS protecting our coast, and I applaud him for it. We NEED to protect our coast from pollution and big oil interests. Were you born and raised here? My guess is no.
Given that cruise ships have repeatedly been caught dumping their septic tanks in the Channel and Coronavirus can be carried in feces, I’m wondering if anybody from the CDC or County Health Dept. can elaborate on any methods to prevent Corona dookie from getting in my mouth when I’m surfing. Thx XO
Staying home makes our local businesses hurt even MORE than they already are! This is NOT the answer. Just be practical. Carry disinfectant wipes everywhere with you and hand sanitizer. WASH YOUR HANDS before and after your meal when you support our local restaurants that so badly need it. DO NOT stay home and hide out like a doomsdayer. Santa Barbara doesn’t even have a case of it yet. It may come here, but eating out at a local business isn’t going to give it to you unless an infected person sneezes directly into your face, even THEN, you may not get it. Get REAL.
Don’t panic, but also tell the truth … the virus HAS NOT been here.
For 9:22 and your passport stamp. How quaint. Travelled lately, in the days of E-passports? . I entered Australia with an E-visa. Entered and left with no passport stamp.
According the itinerary (https://www.cruisemapper.com/ships/Grand-Princess-697), the Grand Princess didn’t dock here. It went from SF to Hawaii, and was scheduled to go to Ensenada and back to SF. The coastal cruise is scheduled for March 22, docking in SB on March 24.
Contact the mayor and your local city council members to object to these Cruise ships coming while we are facing this health emergency. https://www.santabarbaraca.gov/contact/council/default.asp
If you can promise me that local workers will stay home if they are sick, I will keep going out to eat. You can’t.
I hope the fed does some sort expanded unemployment benefit to help these folks out, but there is nothing wrong with prioritizing health and safety.
30,000 people a year get lyme disease in the US, much less will have the corona virus
It only takes one: 3/4/20 Gavin Newson: “Health officials believe both cruise ship patients were exposed while they were on the Grand Princess cruise from San Francisco to Mexico from Feb. 11 to Feb. 21. Newsom said more than half of 2,500 aboard the February cruise, which docked in San Francisco, are California residents.Newsom said California will be flying thousands of test kits out to the ship. “There’s a reason that we didn’t want the ship in the Port of San Francisco and in the state of California at this time,” Newsom said. The Placer County person had symptoms as early as Feb. 19, according to Placer County Health Officer Aimee Sisson. Emergency personnel were called to the person’s home in Rocklin, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco, on Feb. 27, when the person was admitted to a hospital. The cruise ship is at sea but is expected to skip its next port and return to San Francisco by Thursday, according to a statement from Dr. Grant Tarling, the chief medical officer for the Carnival Corp., which operates the Grand Princess. Any current passengers who were also on the February trip will be screened. Newsom said the cruise ship, with thousands of people aboard, will be held offshore until passengers can be tested.“ The ship will not come on shore until we appropriately assess the passengers,” he said.
Yep, came here to post this. City of SB claiming the Diamond Princess situation is “unlikely to repeat” is naive and shortsighted. A cruise ship is the perfect storm for spreading illness, that’s why they are a common site for norovirus and similar. I hope the City’s attorneys are well-prepared to deny entry to any and every cruise ship at risk.
The only reason we aren’t seeing more cases is because we simply aren’t testing anywhere near the level that other countries have been.
I agree with those who believe public health is downplaying the risks. That other news outlet ran an interview with Dr. A that had me throwing things at the computer screen. Clearly, they think we are just all a herd of panic stampeders who need to be lied to and told that everything is under control and there is just nothing to worry our pretty little heads about. The reality is that it is still way too early to tell, but this could escalate very rapidly, the illness is spreading like wildfire on a daily basis, it kills and not just “old people” and even if so are you happy with a die-off of your aunts and uncles and older neighbors? Really? I don’t know if he was misquoted, but the line that this rapidly emerging new pathogen will “take its place” with seasonal flu is simply wrong and goes contrary to the actual statements of Dr. Fauci and other national level experts who clearly distinguish seasonal flu, with its’ .1 mortality rate, from pandemic COVID-19. I wish they would bring back Dr. Takashi Wada, he would not be gaslighting us like this.
They are undertesting.
So we are told.
Despite our previous squabble I have to agree with you “For the 40 billionth time, COVID-19 is not the flu … it’s a different disease, caused by a different organism”. Can’t understand so many people making good points get down voted so much on EH, and you are making a good point here.
For one thing, unlike the cruise ships, the campers have not been hit with the virus. Secondly, campers have distance between themselves and open air. Cruise passengers share air space in poorly ventilated space.
I appreciate that the Santa Barbara City “Leadership” is concerned about a loss of revenue if we turn away cruise ships. I’m just curious though how much money would be lost if the city gets a single bad story in the press about a cruise ship spreading the virus here.
Does the city not get far more revenue from tourists from LA, etc. driving here to get away and stay in our hotels, eat at our restaurants and go wine tasting than from all the cruise ships. A lot of those people from LA would stop coming here for months if we just get one bad story in the press about Santa Barbara and Convid-19.
I’m sure our city “leaders” are far wiser than I am however. So I am certain they, as always, know what is really in our best interest.
dumping in our channel has been debunked…time to move on
Chillingrillen – that is a total lie about illegal dumping in the Channel. Why did you say this? You would have the Coast Guard and the Channel Keepers all over their case in a second. Any fecal pollution of our local waters is not coming from cruise ships; if comes from vagrant camps.
Stories and letters to editors about the bum-pandhandling gauntlet on State Street and vagrants camps have definitely had an impact on local tourism. One corona virus case quarantined on a visiting cruise ship, not so much. Not everyone is buying into this corona virus hysteria, but they don’t like getting accosted by our gauntlet of bums when they are out and about on their vacation.
Ya think?
Vaccine is not that effective.