Rat virus cruise

[Allen]

We've all heard about this. Now, they are finally waking up and questioning "what about other cruises ???". Cramming 5,000 people into a cruise ship has never been a good idea. Add to that the closed ventilation systems on the ships and fact that these ships visit many foreign countries where the passengers debark into their lands to mingle and catch diseases/infections of others OR to give them infections they may have picked up from others.

I live near a port that cruise ships visit. They arrive and depart quickly. Just like commercial airlines and motel rooms I suspect little to no time is given to clean or disinfect what the passengers touch or use. My wife and I don't get out much anymore but when we did we always took a can or two of spray disinfectant to spray things down in the motel rooms--mainly the door knobs but also the TV remotes, telephone, and etc. They don't provide computers any longer so that is one thing that can't spread germs. I suppose the disinfectants would now be banned on ships and planes and you can't clean everything but it would sure be nice if the cruise lines and airlines would take more care.

While I always thought face mask were a joke I DO see the need to distance yourself from one another--at least from those who aren't related.

Seems to me that checklist would be developed for adequate cleaning. As it is I don't think there is anything. "If it doesn't stink and looks clean then it is"

[PWC]

Ever since 2019, the begining of COVID, I've carried a little tiny bottle of Purel and a 3" tall ancohol spray in the car cup holder. Use if faithfully any time I get back in the car. Spray bottle goes into my pocket at Dr appts or hospital visits.

[nf1e]

Reading very little about this outbreak I understand it has much more to do with where the passengers visited while in Argentina than what was done on the ship itself. I enjoy staying home and watching these exotic places on youtube these days. Much healthier over the long haul.

[Allen]

For many events sitting in front of the TV/computer is the best seat in the house while not having to deal with all the crowds, pushing and shoving, expense, schedules, rules, restrictions, heat, cold, shortages, noise, coming across "weirdo's", not being able to carry your gun, staying exhausted, driving/flying, traffic, being w/o things you left at home, stopping for fuel (if driving), eating out, sleeping on questionable beds, being a stranger no matter where you go, car repair (if needed), foreign languages, foreign people and their ways, and the mentioned infections-disease's if traveling out of the area.

Even local events have their drawbacks: ballgames--you sit in the stands for hours, food is limited and a hassle to obtain, then there are the restroom situations.

Car races, the same, plus after the race trying to leave the parking lot with so many hyped up in their cars thinking they are now Mario Andretti trying to leave at once.

Been there, done some of that, over it.

[jon_norstog]

I have been around places the Hanta struck, on the Navajo Reservation. It took a lot of people. A treatment was developed but it was almost worse than the disease, leaving survivors with lost fingers, toes, johnsons & other extremities. It is a disease that hits young, strong people. A good way to get it is going into a place that has been closed up and maybe smells mousey, and sweeping/vacuuming it out. On guy got it from his car - danger mouse had built a nest in the heater box during the summer and when it got cold he started using the heater.

If you live in an area with pinon-juniper forest, you are in prime territory. That is a preferred habitat of the white-footed deer mouse - Danger Mouse.

I was an executive director at Ramah Navajo Chapter, my first task laid on me was to do something about the Hanta, which had just taken two members of the community. We ended up getting CDC involved, they had some theories about prevention they wanted to do a study. It involved community education, "mouseproofing" homes and then trapping them out. No question about it, it DID get the mice out of the houses and kept them out. There were no more cases of the Hanta in Ramah. CDC said the study was inconclusive, because the control group also got rid of their mice.

One thing I learned is if you are cleaning out a space that you suspect is mouse-infested, suit up, mask up and use a strong disinfectant. We used a mixture of Lysol and bleach. Another thing I learned is don't feed the mice - like leaving a sack of dog food on the porch. Another thing that helps is mow the grass/weeds around your house and outbuildings, so there is less cover for the little buggers. An outside cat will patrol your perimeter for you. If you have mice, don't poison them, they'll just die and then you'll have a pile of concentrated Hanta rotting away somewhere in your house. Trap them, set lots of traps. When you catch a mouse, suit up, mask up, pick up the trap with the mouse in it and dump it in your bucket of disinfectant.

If there is a hole big enough to stick a pencil through it, Danger Mouse can get in. The hole the cable guy made your house wall to bring in the cable? Yeah. I could go on.

What's new with the current outbreak is that there MAY be human-to-human transmission. That has not been verified. I hope it's not the case.

jn

[Allen]

Just to add on mouse entrances to your home: Check the clothes dryer vent. This is a common way for mice to enter. They go in and chew through the flex hose connecting the dryer to the vent.

Water drain pipe from the central a/c to the outside. Not as likely but still a possibility.

[jon_norstog]

Just to add on mouse entrances to your home: Check the clothes dryer vent. This is a common way for mice to enter. They go in and chew through the flex hose connecting the dryer to the vent.

Water drain pipe from the central a/c to the outside. Not as likely but still a possibility.

Those are good points (of entry, in this case.) At Ramah, CDC fronted us money and training to set up a crew who would inspect for entry points and plug them (steel wool works pretty good on small holes). You'd be surprised how many small holes there are in a typical house. The crews also trapped out houses and collected and bagged dead mice. They disinfected everything.

I think we saved lives, and also having a way to fight the Hanta took away a lot of fear, replacing it with caution and resolve.

jn

[Allen]

Steel wool is something they can't chew through. If you use most anything else you're looking for repeat plugging over and over. I use the steel wool to block honey bee's too. They can chew through wood and siding just like carpenter bee's.

I chalk over the steel wool as needed then paint it to keep it from rusting and to prevent the chalk from molding. If your house is white or grey a spray can of Rust-oleum works for small touch up jobs like this.