Corona Cruise update by Dr. JJJ

News from the Corona Cruise

Hi all! I’ve been getting a ton of questions from home about how the Corona virus has impacted our voyage. Of all of the things to worry about pre-Semester at Sea, I never in a million years would have considered that a virus in China would be the most difficult challenge of our voyage so far. It’s had a major impact on our experience.  Here’s the skinny on what we know so far and how we are all handling it.

As we disembarked from Japan and headed toward China (late January), we got word that Corona had spread from the Wuhan district to the major Chinese cities, including our future port city of Shanghai. The medical team, along with the Deans on board and the SAS home office, made the call to skip our port in Shanghai and head directly to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam where our port time in Vietnam would be extended from 5 days to 12 days to accommodate for our lost land time in China. Some people were incredibly disappointed to miss China (I mean, it’s CHINA, and the Great Wall and the Terracotta Warriors are big draws for many students on the voyage). That said, this ended up being an unbelievably good call on the part of our leadership team. We now know that if we would have ported in Shanghai (even if none of our voyagers contracted the virus) the likely conclusion would be that future ports would not accept our vessel and we’d be floating around the South China Sea with no where to dock.

When we arrived in Vietnam for our extended stay, we learned that the three Chinese passport holders on board (all students) would not be allowed to disembark the vessel. Vietnam made the decision to close its borders to anyone with a Chinese passport, despite the fact that we could prove that these students were nowhere near China when the outbreak started. Oddly, these 3 students are in fact the ONLY members of our shipboard community that we can say with 100% certainty do not have Corona at this point in the voyage. Those students were treated well by our community.  People brought Vietnamese food and snacks to them, and the Captain invited them for meals and let them order cakes from the dining hall (a major perk on the ship). That said, being stuck on the ship for 12 days after such a long stretch at sea is a major bummer (this is an understatement).

Meanwhile, the rest of the shipboard community was traveling around all parts of Vietnam (and some of us also hopped planes to Cambodia). Initially there were 15 reported cases of Corona in Vietnam, most from Chinese folks who had traveled to Vietnam. As our travel time in Vietnam came to an end, a small outbreak happened in Northern Vietnam in a small community that SASers were unlikely to visit. This small community was under quarantine when we left. The virus has a 15 day incubation period so if we can make it to March 1 with no cases on board, we are home free.

We’ve been getting plenty of updates on the virus from our medical team. I don’t want to minimize anyone’s concern, but I am not worried AT ALL about getting Corona, or if someone on the ship did get it, I would not assume they were going to die. What the docs understand so far is that the most deadly version of the virus came directly from a pangolin from a wet market in Wuhan and was transferred to people. That virus has about a 4-5% death rate, mostly killing old folks and people with compromised immune systems. The virus that spreads from person to person has about a .5% death rate, also affecting older folks and immunocompromised people. Vietnam is a heavily populated place, with millions of people. Of these, 15 were known to have the virus. So the chances of any SASer getting this is pretty low.

Another perspective taking measure is to compare this virus to the flu. In the U.S. alone, the flu kills 30K people annually. We have had quite a bit of flu on the voyage so far (including Rigley’s BFF and Wally’s BFF) and it results in an immediate 3-day quarantine. One thought I’ve had is that Americans may be more scared of Corona (compared to the flu) because it originated in China, a foreign country that has a fairly loaded relationship with the U.S.

During our Vietnam port, I traveled to Cambodia for three days with a group of 21 students. Cambodia, unlike Vietnam, did not close its borders to China.  This happened not because the virus is less deadly in Cambodia, but rather because the Cambodian government has a tight relationship with China, and they receive a ton of money from them.  Politically, Cambodia couldn’t close its doors to their Chinese allies for fear of political or economic backlash. To date, Cambodia has only one recorded case, but my guess is that this is an underestimation. Global public health crises have a lot to do with health, but also a lot to do with geopolitics.

Upon embarkation to the ship in Vietnam, every passenger had to undergo a medical screening, including temperature taking and a follow up exam with the medical team if any symptoms were present. Washing hands has been emphasized and hand sanitizer has been handed out frequently. Most people wore masks in Vietnam, even though there hasn’t been a lot of proof that this helps too much with virus spread.

Upon leaving Vietnam, we got word that itinerary would once again change.  We will not be porting in Malaysia or India. Both countries have just a couple of cases of corona at this point so the risk of getting infected is still pretty low.  The bigger concern was that if our ship had passengers on board with stamps from Japan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and India, it would be harder for us to port in future locations, particularly if the number of cases in those locations grows as time passes. Our ship is now in route to the Seychelles (islands off the east coast of Africa) where we will port for 4 days before heading to Mauritius. This was a tough decision for the shipboard community with a variety of impacts. Many voyagers were really looking forward to India specifically (it’s INDIA, and the Taj Mahal is a big destination for people). Some people (our family included) had already dropped lots of money in India or Malaysia to pay for plane tickets or lodging. In most cases, there is no way to recuperate this loss. Other people were meeting family members or friends in those ports. The saddest story I heard was a student who was traveling to India to visit his family (he hadn’t seen them in over 5 years). In addition to all of that, the faculty/staff/field office have to revamp curriculum, field classes, and field programs that were originally scheduled to be held in China, Malaysia, or India. This change has been a logistical and emotional kick in the pants for everyone on board.

The first day with that knowledge was pretty rough for the shipboard community. At the same time, it’s hard not to feel like a total asshole when saying something like “we’re heading to the Seychelles (for the record a place that has the most beautiful beaches on earth), but I’m super bummed about missing India, China, and Malaysia. Saying this out load makes me feel like an entitled baby, considering that most humans on planet earth will never travel out of their own country ONCE, let along to multiple countries on a ship circumnavigating the globe. We were lucky bastards for getting this opportunity to sail with SAS and we’re still lucky bastards.

As for the impacts on our family specifically, we are doing just fine, better than fine, really. Chris is getting pounded in the counseling center as a result of the itinerary change and the stress it is causing for students (he’s been working hard from day one). Malaysia was Chris’s most anticipated port (he loves the beaches in South East Asia) and we had prepaid for a sweet set up in the northern part of the Malay peninsula. It seems to me that Seychelles will fit the bill for some beautiful beach time and it might be hard to pull him from the islands. As for the J-L kiddos, they are doing just fine. Aside from prep we did with the kids in relation to China/Malaysia/India prior to the voyage (reading, etc.) they weren’t super invested in any particular itinerary. Their expectations are not quite as concrete compared to most adults. And me, well, I am doing my best to be positive and listen to the students who are struggling. In my leadership class we took a full class period to apply a process we learned from the Personal Leadership book we are reading to the itinerary change as a way to work through our feelings and judgements and engage creativity when moving forward. We are ok, and most folks here are now ok (we are 48 hours out from the initial news).

One last thing I want to share about Semester at Sea and Corona virus: This is not the first time that a voyage has had a major itinerary change. The “SARS voyage” is still discussed, with a lot of comparisons to this voyage. On another voyage, the ship hit land and they docked the ship in Egypt, loaded students into hotels, finished the academic curriculum and sent people off. Game over. I have two students in one of my classes whose parents sailed in 1991 and were rerouted to the Seychelles as a result of the Gulf War. There is some comfort knowing that we are not in uncharted territory with regard to our Semester at Sea experience and that although different, ours is a true and authentic Semester at Sea voyage.

I have two more posts coming soon including reflections from Vietnam and also reflections from our Sea Olympics day yesterday.  I continue to be extremely grateful for our time at sea.

Cheers, Dr. JJJ