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I
n the early days of the unprec-
edented mass quarantine of
nearly 4,000 people on the
Diamond Princess cruise ship,
Lolita Wiesner recalls strict ad-
herence to the guidelines for pre-
venting the coronavirus from
spreading: Passengers wore
masks at all times and kept their
distance from each other.
But as the days wore on, the
resident of Red Deer, Alta., noted
a shift. Suddenly, groups of peo-
ple were congregating around
the ship, chatting and hugging.
Smokers appeared on deck with
lowered masks.
As the number of cases on the
ship steadily increased, fellow
passenger Trudy Clement, who
lives near North Bay, began to
question why hundreds of crew
members – wearing gowns and
masks – continued to move freely
on the ship, delivering meals and
working side-by-side as passen-
gers were told to stay in their
rooms.
“Really, in many ways, I don’t
think this was a true quarantine,
having some of us follow the
rules but not all of us,” Ms. Clem-
ent wrote in a series of instant
messages while waiting for a
charter plane to return her and
her husband to Canada this
week.
The accounts provide new in-
sight into why the quarantine,
designed to prevent transmission
of a new and serious virus, turn-
ed into a glaring example of a
public-health experiment gone
wrong. Among those on the ship,
at least two have died and hun-
dreds more have been infected
with COVID-19, the name of the
disease caused by the coronavi-
rus. By the time the quarantine
was officially lifted this week, at
least 634 of the 3,711 people on
board had caught it, making it
the largest cluster of cases out-
side of the virus’s epicentre in
China.
The 47 Canadian passengers
who were infected with the coro-
navirus on the ship must remain
in Japan for treatment. The feder-
al government said it will provide
consular support, but has de-
clined to provide details about
the types of accommodations
that will be made.
As the Japanesegovernment
faces mounting questions about
why it allowed the quarantine to
continue when it was clearly
backfiring, there is fear the failed
containment effort will have
global consequences. Hundreds
of passengers left the ship this
week after they tested negative
for the virus. The number of
cases on the ship increased dra-
matically in the last days of the
quarantine and the virus has an
incubation period of up to 14
days, meaning some who disem-
barked could end up testing posi-
tive.
“This was not a successful op-
eration,” said Isaac Bogoch, an in-
fectious-diseases physician at To-
ronto General Hospital. “There
was ongoing transmission of CO-
VID-19 on the cruise ship.”
In response to mounting crit-
icism, including from an infec-
tious-diseases professor who
posted a video to YouTube this
week describing wholly inade-
quate infection-prevention mea-
sures he witnessed on the Dia-
mond Princess, the Japanese gov-
ernment said it has taken many
steps to prevent the spread of the
virus.
But Jason Kindrachuk, Canada
Research Chair in emerging vi-
ruses at the University of Manito-
ba, said it’s clear something went
awry. It’s difficult to properly exe-
cute any quarantine, and the re-
alities of a cruise ship, where
space is limited, seems to have
actually helped the virus spread,
he said.
“You may be able to keep peo-
ple in their rooms, but are you
absolutely ensuring there is no
contact between people that are
sick and those that are healthy?”
Dr. Kindrachuk said. “Symptoms
aren’t always going to be really
pronounced in patients. Do peo-ple maybe start to take a lower
number of precautions if they
don’t feel sick or don’t seem
sick?”
On Friday, the International
Transport Workers’ Federation
said that 70 crew members on
the ship have been infected with
the virus and that it was a “mis-
take” to keep the 1,004 on board
during the quarantine.
Spencer Fehrenbacher, a pas-
senger from Fort Langley, B.C.,
observed crew members working
long days, wearing standard sur-
gical masks, which are often in-
effective at reducing viral trans-
mission, when passengers were
given N95 respirators.
“I feel that their health was put
at a level below that of the pas-
sengers, which I just feel is rather
unethical when you’re dealing
with a quarantine situation like
this,” Mr. Fehrenbacher said.
Some Canadian passengers
questioned why the federal gov-
ernment didn’t move faster to re-
patriate passengers on the Dia-
mond Princess. Rose Yerex of
Port Dover, Ont., used Facebook
to update her friends about her
experience in quarantine. Earlier
this week, she expressed frustra-
tion about the lack of communi-
cation from the government.
Shortly before the quarantine lift-
ed, Ms. Yerex and her husband
tested positive for the virus and
now must remain in Japan.
Federal Health Minister Patty
Hajdu said Canadian officials will
closely analyze the situation to
piece together what went wrong,a pressing task given that Cana-
da’s tourist season, which sees a
lot of cruises coming to the coun-
try, is about to get under way.
“There has been, obviously,
concern about the practices on
board the ship that have poten-
tially led to the increased spread
of the coronavirus on the ship,”
Ms. Hajdu told reporters this
week. “Certainly something for
us to keep our eye on as we enter
into cruise season.”
A total of 129 Canadians and
family members arrived back in
Canada on Friday after a long
journey from Tokyo. They will
undergo another 14-day quaran-
tine period at the NAV Centre in
Cornwall, Ont.
Officials say the passengers
have been through a major or-
deal and mental-health support
will be available to those under
quarantine. For Ms. Clement, one
of the passengers who was on the
charter flight, it will take time to
deal with the psychological con-
sequences of their time on board
the Diamond Princess.
Ms. Clement said she and her
husband have become “hyper-
sensitive,” feeling emotional
when speaking to family back in
Canada or even watching a
movie.
“We do expect ‘aftershocks’ af-
ter all of this,” Ms. Clement wrote
in a series of instant messages.
“You can’t just go through this
experience and expect it just to
go away.”WithfilesfromAndreaWooHowthecruise-shipquarantinebackfired
Infectious-disease
expertssayruleswere
poorlyenforcedwhile
realitiesofthevessel
helpedthevirusspread
CARLYWEEKS
HEALTHREPORTER
AbustransportsBritishpassengersawayfromtheDiamondPrincessinYokohama,Japan,onFriday.Bythetimethequarantinewaslifted,atleast
634peopleonboardhadcaughtCOVID-19,makingitthelargestclusterofcasesoutsideofthevirus’sepicentreinChina.KIMKYUNG-HOON/REUTERSTherehasbeen,
obviously,concern
aboutthepractices
onboardtheship
thathavepotentially
ledtotheincreased
spreadofthe
coronavirusonthe
ship.Certainly
somethingforusto
keepoureyeonas
weenterintocruise
season.PATTYHAJDU
FEDERALHEALTHMINISTERCORONAVIRUS