OPINION:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the State Department say don’t take a cruise. Those cruise ships are not liabilities. They are assets if used correctly (“Please stop the coronavirus hysteria. Now,” Web, March 9).
Coronavirus infections are doubling roughly every five or six days. Do the math. In two months we will have at least 780,000 confirmed infections in the U.S., and this is a low estimate. In a very short period of time the CDC is going to be begging for empty cruise ships because they are the only places with the capability of housing people in a controlled environment. Those ships have the most sanitized atmosphere you will find anywhere in the travel or vacation industry. The airline, hotel, train or even restaurant industry do not even come close. Just go look at the CDC inspection reports for cruise ships. Ever seen an inspection report for an Amtrak restroom? The Diamond Princess quarantine was botched in Japan. Cruise ships can provide a very controlled living environment in terms of food preparation and ventilation. The systems are there and they are modern. The crews already know the importance of sanitation; it is a major part of their job. They just have to be trained to move it up a notch.
Those who think we can build hospitals in two weeks (as in Wuhan, China) need to digest the fact that those two-week “miracles” were in reality not hospitals. They were detention centers courtesy of the Communist Party of China. So where would you like to be? In a Wuhan detention center or aboard a modern cruise ship?
SAMUEL BURKEEN
Reston, Va.
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