Eli5: Why is it so hard to contain contagious infection on a cruise ship?
In: Biology
Lots of people in close quarters, often sharing the same spaces (like dining halls, narrow passageways, on board theaters, clubs and casinos) provide ample opportunity for contagious pathogens to spread. And once people start showing symptoms, they’ may have been contagious for hours or days, so they’ve been spreading the pathogen while engaging in their normal shipboard routine. Multiply this effect by hundreds and even thousands of passengers, and you have a recipe for a shipwide outbreak. By the time the crew is aware of the situation, it’soften too late – the illness has spread throughout the ship.
Add to all this the “I’m gonna party no matter what” attitude of many cruise passengers, the abundance of alcohol (and poor choices), shared dining areas (one shift sits to eat as another shift is leaving), and it’s a pathogen’s dream.
All the cabins are basically little boxes which have to have air pumped into them, that air passes through other boxes to get there possibly carrying the disease with it. There isn’t much room in general so people a living in close proximity to each other even if you keep everyone in their cabins, they have to have regular contact with the staff since you can’t prepare meals in the cabins.
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