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American Morning
Virus Strikes Cruise Ship
Aired September 02, 2003 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There has been another outbreak of a viral infection on a cruise ship. More than 300 passengers spent some of the last two weeks sick to their stomachs on the Regal Princess. The ship pulled into New York this morning.
Maria Hinojosa is there -- good morning, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
It's a dreary day in New York City to begin with. Now, for the people who are on the boat behind me that just pulled in, it's going to be a pretty dreary -- it's been a pretty dreary couple of weeks. This is a ship that has been on the road, on the oceans for two weeks now, cut their trip short by two days so they could dock here in New York City two days early. They are being met by the Coast Guard, as well as by four ambulances and cleanup crews.
Now, at the height of the virus, the Norovirus that was spread here, it was about 300 people who were sick. The crews that are meeting the boat on the docks here don't know yet how many people are sick right now. We have seen four ambulances. We're hearing that right now those who are very sick are just about four people.
But nonetheless they did bring in a crew called TCM. They're an emergency response contractor and they have been hired to disinfect this ship. They are hired things -- they're hired to work on things like oil spills and truck rollovers. They say it could take two weeks to clean up this ship and they don't quite know how they're going to go about doing it. But some of the people who are here, the longshoremen who are ready to help the passengers get off and deal with their luggage, they're still pretty concerned about what they're going to find.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CANOSI, LONGSHOREMAN: Well, we come in contact with them. We come in contact with the luggage, stuff like that.
HINOJOSA: What are you going to do when you get home tonight or as soon as you finished dealing with the ship?
CANOSI: Take a shower.
HINOJOSA: A big shower?
CANOSI: Heavily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: A lot of plastic gloves were being given out by this crew. In fact, they actually had gas masks, real full fledged gas masks. We're hearing that the Norovirus can be contained, a lot of hand washing. But even though it's, it might not be contagious for the first two or three days, if it's not properly contained, it could be contagious for up until two weeks, even after you've been done thinking that you're sick. So a lot to look forward to, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet. And those poor crew members, I'm sure plastic gloves is just one of the things they can do.
Maria, thanks very much for that update for us.
HINOJOSA: There were people who were -- they were doubling up on the plastic gloves, doubling them up.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and maybe tripling up would be a good thing, too.
Thanks for that update.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired September 2, 2003 - 07:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: There has been another outbreak of a viral infection on a cruise ship. More than 300 passengers spent some of the last two weeks sick to their stomachs on the Regal Princess. The ship pulled into New York this morning.
Maria Hinojosa is there -- good morning, Maria.
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Soledad.
It's a dreary day in New York City to begin with. Now, for the people who are on the boat behind me that just pulled in, it's going to be a pretty dreary -- it's been a pretty dreary couple of weeks. This is a ship that has been on the road, on the oceans for two weeks now, cut their trip short by two days so they could dock here in New York City two days early. They are being met by the Coast Guard, as well as by four ambulances and cleanup crews.
Now, at the height of the virus, the Norovirus that was spread here, it was about 300 people who were sick. The crews that are meeting the boat on the docks here don't know yet how many people are sick right now. We have seen four ambulances. We're hearing that right now those who are very sick are just about four people.
But nonetheless they did bring in a crew called TCM. They're an emergency response contractor and they have been hired to disinfect this ship. They are hired things -- they're hired to work on things like oil spills and truck rollovers. They say it could take two weeks to clean up this ship and they don't quite know how they're going to go about doing it. But some of the people who are here, the longshoremen who are ready to help the passengers get off and deal with their luggage, they're still pretty concerned about what they're going to find.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW CANOSI, LONGSHOREMAN: Well, we come in contact with them. We come in contact with the luggage, stuff like that.
HINOJOSA: What are you going to do when you get home tonight or as soon as you finished dealing with the ship?
CANOSI: Take a shower.
HINOJOSA: A big shower?
CANOSI: Heavily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: A lot of plastic gloves were being given out by this crew. In fact, they actually had gas masks, real full fledged gas masks. We're hearing that the Norovirus can be contained, a lot of hand washing. But even though it's, it might not be contagious for the first two or three days, if it's not properly contained, it could be contagious for up until two weeks, even after you've been done thinking that you're sick. So a lot to look forward to, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Yes, I bet. And those poor crew members, I'm sure plastic gloves is just one of the things they can do.
Maria, thanks very much for that update for us.
HINOJOSA: There were people who were -- they were doubling up on the plastic gloves, doubling them up.
O'BRIEN: Yes, and maybe tripling up would be a good thing, too.
Thanks for that update.
Appreciate it.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
