Virus-hit Indian resort turns pool into fish farm

Yahoo – AFP, Arun CHANDRABOSE, August 24, 2020

The pool at the Aveda Resort now houses thousands of pearl spot fish

A luxury resort in southern India has turned its swimming pool into a fish farm to stop the business sinking amid the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Normally the 150-metre (500-feet) pool at the Aveda Resort in Kerala state is packed with European tourists. Now thousands of pearl spot fish are causing the splash.

The complex was forced to shut in March when a nationwide coronavirus lockdown was ordered. Few hotels have been allowed to reopen since.

Of those which are still shuttered, not many boast a pool with 7.5 million litres of water, which can be put to alternative use.

"We have had zero revenues, so in June, we put around 16,000 two-month-old pearl spot fish in the pool," Aveda's general manager Jyotish Surendran told AFP.

The fish, which takes about eight months to reach full size, is a popular ingredient in dishes in southern India and the Middle East.

The resort's manager hoped money from the fish farm would help cover 

basic bills until tourists return

"We plan to harvest by November and will export to the Middle East," Surendran said, predicting about four tonnes of pearl spots growing in the swimming pool could be worth $40,000 on the market.

The makeshift farm would not cover the losses from the pandemic, which has driven many hotels to bankruptcy, said the hotel boss.

But Surendran was hopeful that the money would help cover basic bills so the business can keep running until tourists return. 

And the Aveda plans to keep faith with the pearl spot even when business resumes.

"We can't continue with this farm in the pool, but we are trying to find alternative land where we can build up this knowledge for bigger projects," he said.

US Navy evacuating virus-struck aircraft carrier Roosevelt

Yahoo – AFP, Paul HANDLEY, April 1, 2020

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he does not see US military adversaries
taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to threaten the United States (AFP
Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

The US Navy is evacuating thousands of sailors from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt in Guam after its captain warned a coronavirus outbreak was threatening the lives of the crew.

With dozens of COVID-19 cases discovered, a senior official said the navy was rapidly arranging hotel rooms on the Pacific island for many of the 4,000-plus crew, while organizing a skeleton team of uninfected sailors to keep the ship operational.

Pentagon officials admitted the Roosevelt's plight was a challenge for military readiness, noting that defense forces worldwide are equally confronted by the pandemic.

"The plan at this time is to remove as many people off the Teddy Roosevelt as we can, understanding that we have to leave a certain amount of folks on-board to perform normal watch-standing duties that keep the ship running," Rear Admiral John Menoni, commander for the Marianas region, told reporters in Guam on Wednesday.

Earlier this week the captain told the Pentagon that the new coronavirus was spreading uncontrollably through his ship and called for immediate help to quarantine its crew.

"The spread of the disease is ongoing and accelerating," Captain Brett Crozier wrote in a letter to superiors.

"We are not at war. Sailors do not need to die," he pleaded.

"Removing the majority of personnel from a deployed US nuclear aircraft carrier and isolating them for two weeks may seem like an extraordinary measure," Crozier said. "This is a necessary risk."

Hotels in Guam

Menoni said a plan was being developed to get as many sailors off the ship as possible, and they were awaiting the arrival of 40 US Marines health specialists to help in testing.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper says he does not see US military adversaries 

taking advantage of the coronavirus pandemic to threaten the United States (AFP 

Photo/Brendan Smialowski)

He said only sailors deemed healthy would be housed outside the Guam naval base, a strategically important Pentagon port in the middle of the western Pacific Ocean.

"No one is allowed off the base unless they have tested negative for COVID-19," Menoni said.

Crozier did not give the number of infections aboard the ship, and the Navy is not offering figures for security reasons.

But one official said it was fewer than the 100 reported by US media.

More than 1,400 Defense Department employees, contractors and dependents have been infected by the novel coronavirus, including 771 military personnel, the Pentagon said.

Balancing health and security

The Roosevelt's docking in Guam on March 28 left both of the Pentagon's western Pacific aircraft carriers in port, with the USS Ronald Reagan berthed in Japan, also reportedly suffering an unknown number of coronavirus cases.

On Tuesday Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly admitted it was a challenge for US forces' defense readiness.

"This is a unique circumstance and we're working through it, and trying to maintain that proper balance, to ensure our friends and allies, and most importantly our foes and adversaries out there, understand that we are not standing down," he told CNN.

"We have the responsibility to protect the seas and to protect our friends and allies around the world. We have to adjust the best way we can to do that."

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he did not see anyone testing US military readiness amid the pandemic.

"Not at this time," he said on Tuesday.

"What we find, tend to find right now, it's that a lot of countries have turned inward and are focusing inward," he said.

Anxiety aboard US cruise ship as NY declares coronavirus emergency

Yahoo – AFP, Jocelyne ZABLIT, March 7, 2020

Princess Cruises said there were 3,533 people currently onboard the Grand
Princess, including 2,422 passengers and 1,111 crew (AFP Photo/Handout)

Los Angeles (AFP) - Passengers trapped aboard a US cruise ship, stranded by a coronavirus outbreak, spoke of their growing anxiety on Saturday as New York state announced a state of emergency over a spike in new cases.

One of the holidaymakers onboard the Grand Princess told AFP the captain announced early Saturday there was "still no word on when or where we will be docking."

Carolyn Wright, a professional photographer traveling with a friend, said passengers were earlier told it was unlikely the ship would dock on Saturday.

Authorities have said 21 people on the ship languishing 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the coast of San Francisco tested positive for the new coronavirus -- 19 crew members and two passengers.

The fast-spreading virus has already killed 19 people in the United States, most of them residents of a nursing home in the western state of Washington.

New York on Saturday became the latest state to declare an emergency over the virus as the number of patients there rose to 76, including a driver who apparently worked for ride sharing company Uber.

Emergency declarations allow federal, state and local officials quicker access to funds to battle the outbreak.

Governor Andrew Cuomo said 57 of those infected in New York have links to the Orthodox Jewish community in New Rochelle, a city in Westchester County, 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of New York city.

Florida Senator Rick Scott, acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and 

Vice President Mike Pence discuss the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the 

cruise industry on March 7, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida (AFP Photo/JOE RAEDLE)

"Westchester is an obvious problem," Cuomo said. "We talk about contagion in clusters; clusters tend to infect more and more people."

Vice President Mike Pence, who is in charge of the US government's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, met on Saturday in Florida with cruise line executives and reiterated that the government was doing its utmost to prevent the spread of the virus.

'Practice common sense'

He said the stranded cruise ship would be brought to a non-commercial dock over the weekend and all 3,533 passengers and crew would be tested.

"All passengers and crew will be tested for the coronavirus and quarantined as appropriate," he told reporters. "Those that require additional medical attention will also receive it."

He underscored that while the risk of contracting the virus was low for the average American, older people with underlying health issues are particularly vulnerable.

"If you are yourself a senior citizen with a serious underlying medical condition, or if you have a loved one with a serious underlying medical condition, it is just a good time to practice common sense," he said.

The Grand Princess had been scheduled to dock in San Francisco on Saturday after a 14-day cruise but has been held off the coast since Wednesday after it emerged that two passengers who had been on a previous voyage had contracted the virus. One of them later died.

The international departure terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) in 

New York was nearly deserted on March 7, 2020 (AFP Photo/SPENCER PLATT)

Wright said although there didn't seem to be panic among passengers, there was growing concern and frustration.

"So far we are both fine and we are really hoping to stay that way," she told AFP, speaking about her traveling companion.

"My friend has COPD (pulmonary disease) and she is extremely concerned about the virus."

Little information

She said passengers -- who have been confined to their cabins since Thursday -- at one point on Friday were told they would be allowed out for fresh air, but the idea was nixed by health authorities.

Another passenger, quoted by the San Francisco Chronicle, said he and his wife had also received little information about the outbreak from crew members.

Daniel Healy, 56, told the paper he has run out of diabetes medication and wasn't getting much help from the crew.

Gloves and face masks were delivered to the Grand Princess by helicopter late Friday.

Worldwide, the number of virus cases exceeds 100,000 and the overall death toll is more than 3,500 across 95 nations and territories, according to the latest count by AFP.

Floating Petri dishes? Coronavirus puts cruise industry in the dock

Rfi – AFP, 23 February 2020

The coronavirus cluster detected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship is by far
the biggest cluster of cases outside mainland China AFP/File

Hong Kong (AFP) - Deadly viruses, chickenpox outbreaks and mass cases of the runs: sometimes luxury cruise ship holidays are not the trips of a lifetime elderly passengers had hoped for.

Cruise-goers have fallen sick en masse in the past, their predicament on the high seas coming into sharp focus because the holidays can cost thousands of dollars and are often marketed as trips of a lifetime.

"Cruise ships are very prone to outbreaks of common cold and the vomiting virus," said John Oxford, professor of virology at Queen Mary University of London.

"Invariably the ships are overcrowded and with so many passengers, hygiene levels can slip."

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) logged eight outbreaks aboard cruise ships last year of the highly contagious norovirus, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea -- hardly the stuff of a dream holiday.

Measles, E. coli, chickenpox and salmonella poisoning have all broken out on cruises in recent years.

"Unfortunately, the more elderly demographic found on a typical liner are more likely to be susceptible to anything which might present a serious health challenge," warned Dr Simon Clarke, an associate professor at Britain's University of Reading.

With global concerns mounting about the threat of the new coronavirus, an elderly Japanese man and woman died on Thursday having been on the virus-stricken Diamond Princess.

The vessel, moored in Yokohama, was by far the biggest coronavirus cluster outside the epicentre in China. Some have pointed the finger at Japan's authorities for how they handled the 14-day quarantine of hundreds of passengers.

For now, US authorities have recommended that travellers "reconsider" cruises to or in Asia, citing the risk of coronavirus-linked travel restrictions and quarantines.

Annual growth

Stewart Chiron, a leading industry expert, says that cruise ships are nothing like the hotbed of viruses that they are painted out to be and cruise lines take "extensive precautions to keep ships clean".

"When viruses are introduced, cruise lines have various protocols and procedures to clean ships and prevent further spreading of the virus," he added.

US-based Chiron says that the image of thousands of people crammed together on board -- ripe conditions for the spread of illness -- is also wide of the mark.

"Cruise ships are much larger than most people realise. There's plenty of space for passengers to spread out in to have enjoyable, healthy experiences," he said.

According to Chiron, citing CDC figures, of the more than 31 million people who holidayed on cruise ships last year, there were 1,038 cases of norovirus, or 0.003 percent.

Chiron and other experts say that the cruise industry has successfully shrugged off past negative headlines and will quickly bounce back once the coronavirus passes.

Cruise Lines International Association, the world's largest cruise industry trade organisation, says 17.8 million people took an ocean cruise in 2009, compared with last year's 31 million, demonstrating its continually growing popularity.

About half of all passengers are from North America and analysts say they are unlikely to be perturbed by events on vessels in Asia.

"As with previous crises, there may be new-booking slowdowns as people get caught up in news cycles," said Chiron.

"Once this period concludes, there will be a surge of bookings and booking patterns will return to normal."

'You're trapped'

Tara C. Smith, professor of epidemiology at Kent State University in Ohio, is not so convinced.

"Granted, I could become ill via any type of travel or even via a staycation with my kindergartener," said Smith, who trained in microbiology and infectious diseases.

"But cruise ships take those risks of background infection and amplify them due to the constant shared quarters of travellers on board."

Smith conceded that coronavirus was an "extreme example" and said that most cruise passengers will experience no problems at all.

"But personally, I'd rather not take the risk," she said.

"One never knows what infections might enter on a cruise ship and it's a location where you're trapped with all your fellow passengers.

"It just doesn't sound like a fun vacation to me."