One of the central news articles around the Coronavirus scare of late has been the Diamond Princess cruise liner, which has been moored in Japan for about 4 weeks after one initial passenger was confirmed with the virus, which then spread to many hundreds more.
The Diamond Princess liner was kept at its mooring to prevent passengers leaving and potentially infecting many others around the world if they were to go to their home countries and cities. The theory that the passengers would be kept in "quarantine" for 2 weeks. This is the concept that the Chinese government used in China - to lock down tens of millions of citizens in their homes to prevent the infection spreading. Unfortunately, this protocol will be remembered in future as what NOT to do.
It was clear that the virus infection had already spread far and wide in China by the time the "quarantine" lock-downs were implemented. As I've said in my earlier articles on this topic, self-imposed quarantine at home when you are sick is the right thing to do, to prevent more infections to people around you. If you have the flu, stay at home, rest and recover. Most other healthy people who live in the home will be away doing what they do as usual. But forcing healthy people to stay locked up in very close proximity to someone with a virus that has a very high infection rate was always going to have the opposite effect - of causing many more healthy people to become sick with this infection. This meant many more people becoming infected in their homes, more people trying to get help in hospitals, leading to overcrowding, draining hospital resources of medications and beds, and even more people becoming infected, including doctors and nurses. And many more people dying.
With the Diamond Princess liner, the Japanese health authorities and world media have been making out that the ship was "in quarantine", or that coronavirus-positive passengers were being kept isolated from others in the ship. Nothing could be further from the truth! Hospitals have specialised isolation units for true quarantine protocols. Keeping infectious people in close proximity to healthy people, while also sharing and breathing the same air systems in an outbreak of an air-borne virus, is NOT a quarantine!
This is why there have been 50-200 new coronavirus infections found EVERY DAY on that liner!
The Canadian and Australian governments have taken their citizens off the Diamond Princess liner back to their home country, and put into true quarantine for the next few weeks, because they realise that the ship was not properly quarantined. The US has told their citizens to not return home for at least 2 weeks.
Sadly, the Japanese government and health authorities do not understand infection control, and have released all remaining passengers into Japan or to return to their home cities and countries, as their self-determined "quarantine" period was up. This is despite reports that 79 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on that day. This means that the passengers were still being exposed to the virus on the ship, and still infecting each other. Many passengers are still harbouring the virus and not showing symptoms. But these asymptomatic virus carriers have now been released...
I know 2 Australians who were on the liner. They are now in quarantine in Australia, despite not having had any symptoms or testing positive. The Australian government sent a doctor to the ship to check on the Australian passengers and the infection control procedures, and they said they were "truly scared" as to the lack of infection control there. Even Japanese doctors who visited the ships said it was "chaos" and spoke out in public about the lack of procedures. They have since been silenced.
It seems that the Japanese taxi drivers are more knowledgeable than the health officials there, as so few of them turned up at the dock to take passengers away! No doubt for fear of being exposed to the virus.
Some strong questions need to be asked of elected officials and health professionals - such as:
• Why are they not following strict infection control procedures?
• Why weren't passengers taken into true quarantine in Japanese hospitals?
• Why were passengers prematurely released from the liner, when infections were still happening daily?
• Why weren't preventative measures used or recommended in China or Japan (or anywhere)?
• Are we about to see the start of a large-scale pandemic as a result of all these mistakes?
• And what knee-jerk reactions will we see our governments implement as a result of this, such as forced lock-downs, or mandatory vaccination programs?
Keep on supporting your immune system, with recommendations in my previous articles, and practice good hygiene. Stay wary and be prepared, and be healthy!
The Diamond Princess liner was kept at its mooring to prevent passengers leaving and potentially infecting many others around the world if they were to go to their home countries and cities. The theory that the passengers would be kept in "quarantine" for 2 weeks. This is the concept that the Chinese government used in China - to lock down tens of millions of citizens in their homes to prevent the infection spreading. Unfortunately, this protocol will be remembered in future as what NOT to do.
It was clear that the virus infection had already spread far and wide in China by the time the "quarantine" lock-downs were implemented. As I've said in my earlier articles on this topic, self-imposed quarantine at home when you are sick is the right thing to do, to prevent more infections to people around you. If you have the flu, stay at home, rest and recover. Most other healthy people who live in the home will be away doing what they do as usual. But forcing healthy people to stay locked up in very close proximity to someone with a virus that has a very high infection rate was always going to have the opposite effect - of causing many more healthy people to become sick with this infection. This meant many more people becoming infected in their homes, more people trying to get help in hospitals, leading to overcrowding, draining hospital resources of medications and beds, and even more people becoming infected, including doctors and nurses. And many more people dying.
With the Diamond Princess liner, the Japanese health authorities and world media have been making out that the ship was "in quarantine", or that coronavirus-positive passengers were being kept isolated from others in the ship. Nothing could be further from the truth! Hospitals have specialised isolation units for true quarantine protocols. Keeping infectious people in close proximity to healthy people, while also sharing and breathing the same air systems in an outbreak of an air-borne virus, is NOT a quarantine!
This is why there have been 50-200 new coronavirus infections found EVERY DAY on that liner!
The Canadian and Australian governments have taken their citizens off the Diamond Princess liner back to their home country, and put into true quarantine for the next few weeks, because they realise that the ship was not properly quarantined. The US has told their citizens to not return home for at least 2 weeks.
Sadly, the Japanese government and health authorities do not understand infection control, and have released all remaining passengers into Japan or to return to their home cities and countries, as their self-determined "quarantine" period was up. This is despite reports that 79 new coronavirus cases were confirmed on that day. This means that the passengers were still being exposed to the virus on the ship, and still infecting each other. Many passengers are still harbouring the virus and not showing symptoms. But these asymptomatic virus carriers have now been released...
I know 2 Australians who were on the liner. They are now in quarantine in Australia, despite not having had any symptoms or testing positive. The Australian government sent a doctor to the ship to check on the Australian passengers and the infection control procedures, and they said they were "truly scared" as to the lack of infection control there. Even Japanese doctors who visited the ships said it was "chaos" and spoke out in public about the lack of procedures. They have since been silenced.
It seems that the Japanese taxi drivers are more knowledgeable than the health officials there, as so few of them turned up at the dock to take passengers away! No doubt for fear of being exposed to the virus.
Some strong questions need to be asked of elected officials and health professionals - such as:
• Why are they not following strict infection control procedures?
• Why weren't passengers taken into true quarantine in Japanese hospitals?
• Why were passengers prematurely released from the liner, when infections were still happening daily?
• Why weren't preventative measures used or recommended in China or Japan (or anywhere)?
• Are we about to see the start of a large-scale pandemic as a result of all these mistakes?
• And what knee-jerk reactions will we see our governments implement as a result of this, such as forced lock-downs, or mandatory vaccination programs?
Keep on supporting your immune system, with recommendations in my previous articles, and practice good hygiene. Stay wary and be prepared, and be healthy!
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