Edhat Staff
Photo: Patti Gutshall
Source: City of Santa Barbara
Princess Cruises announced the cancellation of its Grand Princess cruise scheduled to visit Santa Barbara on March 24, 2020. Waterfront staff were requesting updates from the cruise line to determine whether the cruise would be canceled.
To protect the safety of residents, the City will contact other cruise lines to request cancellation of their upcoming cruise visits to Santa Barbara, until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removes their travel advisory for cruise ships. There are ten cruise visits planned in Santa Barbara through June 2020.
According to Mayor Cathy Murillo, “I appreciate Princess Cruises taking action and protecting the safety of the community and passengers. We are asking other cruise lines to follow their lead and take a cautious approach.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is advising travelers, particularly those with underlying health issues, to defer cruise ship travel. Recent reports of COVID-19 on cruise ships highlight the risk of infection to cruise ship passengers and crew. Like many other viruses, COVID-19 appears to spread more easily between people in close quarters aboard ships.
City staff are monitoring the rapidly changing situation regarding COVID-19 and are taking steps to plan for a potential community emergency and continuation of the City’s essential business operations.
To prevent exposure to the virus, residents are encouraged to practice the following preventive actions:
· Wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, if soap and water are not on hand.
· Avoid touching eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands. N95 respirator masks are not recommended for the general public.
· Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces with a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
· Stay home if you become sick with respiratory symptoms like fever and cough.
· If you have traveled to a country with a COVID-19 outbreak, stay home for the next 14 days to monitor your health and keep distance from others. Review the CDC Travel Precautions.
· Cover your mouth with a tissue or your elbow if you sneeze or cough.
· Avoid close contact with people who are sick. The World Health Organization recommends staying at least 3 feet away from anyone who may be infected or sick.
· Elderly persons and individuals with serious illnesses are particularly vulnerable to viruses and should limit public contact, if possible.
For the latest information on the COVID-19, visit the CDC’s website. Local updates are available on the Santa Barbara County Public Health Department Website.
Additional information can be found on the following websites:
Frequently Asked Questions About the Coronavirus
California Department of Public Health
Lancet COVID 19 Resource Centre
Good, I’m glad the City didn’t have to force it.
Will mayor Murillo & City Council now cancel all ships and events!? Italy and Israel are now on lockdown and people are looking at a 14 day quarantine. We need to be proactive before this deadly coronavirus takes root in Santa Barbara. TheCity Council will have a meeting tomorrow at City Hall at 2:00 p.m. on the Coronavirus. It is time to email your Councilmember to tell them what stance you want them to take: SBCityCouncil@SantaBarbaraCA.Gov
Time to close our borders too. Italy knows what they are doing and have been wanting to do this for a long time.
Smart. Still no reason to panic ppl. Seriously. Freaking out also stresses your system and lowers your immunity.
Cancel the cruises. We have a vulnerable population. Let’s be cautious
AN OPEN LETTER TO MAYOR MURILLO
Request- an act of asking politely or formally for something such as “a request for information”
Mayor Murillo-
The City’s Media Release (below) on the Princess Cruise Line’s decision not send the Grand Princess here was predicted to you by me. It is good news!
Now my question is a simple one on your “request” to the other cruise lines
lines in the Media Release because it is mealy mouthed and weak!
Are you ordering their ships not to come here or are you leaving that decision to each cruise line? In plain English-Are you asking then or telling them?
Sincerely,
Ernie Salomon
MEDIA RELEASE
GRAND PRINCESS CRUISE SHIP CANCELS VISIT
City Requests Cancellation of Other Cruise Visits
To protect the safety of residents, the City will contact other cruise lines to request cancellation of their upcoming cruise visits to Santa Barbara, until the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) removes their travel advisory for cruise ships. There are ten cruise visits planned in Santa Barbara through June 2020.
According to Mayor Cathy Murillo, “I appreciate Princess Cruises taking action and protecting the safety of the community and passengers. We are asking other cruise lines to follow their lead and take a cautious approach.”
Sincerely,
Ernie Salomon
There’s nothing remotely polite about that. And it’s not at all clear that the city has the authority to tell a cruise ship not to come here … it certainly can’t cancel cruises. But it’s moot … few people will be willing to board these ships, so the lines will cancel the cruises themselves.
It’s completely clear that the City CAN refuse the cruise ship. First of all the cruise line has to pay just to allow the tenders to come in and use the City facilities even though the ship is not docking. That’s where the City makes the real money, not from what the passengers spend here. Fact is that passengers are usually comped when a port is missed as these fees are include in their ticket prices. Several ships coming this way now are being stopped by local jurisdictions… so many that lines are comping everything from on board credits to free cruises.
Best news ever. The air is so clear; views of the Channel Islands have been magnificent. It’s wonderful knowing those polluting ships won’t be fouling our air and water——at least this time around.
Yes, the cruise ships/petri dishes are horrible. But, I would like to point out that this thing started making headlines in December. 14% of UCSB students are from foreign countries. 881 of SBCC students are from foreign countries. It was Winter break, and if they traveled back to their home countries (nearly 20% of UCSB are Asian – not pointing any fingers, but I haven’t been able to cross reference how many students are Chinese nationals), and arrived back for the new quarter starting January 6th… it’s already here. I remember in January, it seemed like everyone that worked at TJ’s ended up getting sick (think college kids shopping). I got sick. I had a cold. Pretty run of the mill. I think it’s already here and has gone through. The recirculated air on airplanes is also a petridish, but I am not a scientist.
9:15, my understanding is up until recently they weren’t testing anyone unless you could prove you had been exposed to a diagnosed infected person. Now testing is more available but I don’t know anyone who has been tested. The people I knew were tested for the flu and the results showed- no flu.
As of today, our city is saddled with a mayor and city council who have not shown the pro-active ability to provide leadership with what is well on its way of becoming a national crisis-
The mayor and council have still not taken the local threat coronavirus seriously enough. They dithered for weeks on the cruise ship issue until Princess finally took action to keep their ship out of our city. Yesterday, Mayor Murillo and the council finally “asked” other cruise lines to keep their ships out of Santa Barbara. I would have “told” them that they cannot port here until further notice.
Self service of prepared foods in buffets and bakery cases must be ended in stores and restaurants.
Shoppers must be urged to wash all their produce with food spray or soap and water.
Restaurants must use extreme measures to insure that they have practices that protect the public’s’ health.
All people serving ready to eat food in places like bakeries must wear gloves.
The situation in Italy is a snapshot of what will happen here if the virus takes hold!
Just do it now. Figure cuts later, screw the what if’s and make a decision !
10:32, I fact-checked your post. Sorry to report it is untrue. Monterey City Manager did same as our Mayor “City Manager Hans Uslar said that out of an abundance of caution he ASKED cruise ship agencies Friday to cancel upcoming cruises into Monterey Bay and they complied.” The Gov allowed the cruise ship to dock in Oakland and I can’t find anything that says he won’t let that happen again. Please post any links supporting your assertions.
Agree! I got sick mid feb and know several others who did too. Fevers, l coughs, etc. I know a handful of people who actually developed pneumonia from their flu…. I feel it’s already here and that many of us have already had it but most of us will just have normal cold and flu symptoms so would not get tested, or even stay home if symptoms can be managed.
Another possibility would be for people to avoid large public gatherings on their own. On another note, I sympathize with businesses, servers and so forth who are taking a hit.
Yes, it’s already here; that’s a very valid assumption; there’s a case in Ventura county but I don’t know offhand how and where that patient was exposed/infected. I don’t know what your point is. That’s okay, I too post stories trying to make a point and touch people’s thoughts! You seem to be highlighting “foreign” and “Asian” people. They’re suffering throughout the USA due to their appearance. Just as I would once my name was known. I’m great because I pass. People are afraid of Chinese restaurants! And people with Asian features! This is so stupid. Lots of Caucasians are spreading Covid19 too. There’s a reason the organizations that name these outbreaks are moving away from using place names!
At which location of TJ’s did it seem like everyone got sick? Also, lucky you only had a run of the mill cold. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease, noted for a dry cough and fever. These are not normal cold symptoms. I”m just speaking from experience, of a housemate who was bedridden with influenza years ago, and my own experience with bacterial pneumonia that caused me to be on a respirator for 3 days and inpatient for six or seven. Do you know any hospitalized students or people with extreme breathing/bronchial involvement? Do you care about their racial makeup? I hope you and yours are happy and healthy. Enjoy the rain!
Obviously City leaders are putting tourist $$ before what’s best for the community if they continue to allow these Cruise Ships here.
How does the city cut $4 million dollars out of the current budget after cruise ships get banned? These are real world decisions our elected leaders now must face. What gets eliminated first.
Did you even read the story?
I know several people that have had an extended dry cough after cold and flu symptoms, starting with a sore throat. The dry cough is unusual, usually it is a wet cough due to a chest infection that can go into bronchitis for some people. I also agree that it is here and is going through the population. Well, at least people seem to have plenty of TP if they need it.
Does not have the authority to order them not to come. Her title is not Empress Murillo.
Pitmix, do you know of anybody with those, e.g., dry-cough, symptoms attempting to get a test locally? How is that going?
I find this interesting, as I submitted a news article to Edhat (that did not get published) with regard to two new visits just scheduled by Celebrity Cruiseline dubbed “Heroes Fundraising Cruise”. The Celebrity Millennium is now scheduled to visit Santa Barbara on April 7th and April 11th, 2020. They are both part of two new cruised Celebrity scheduled for April 6th and April 10th. round trip out of Los Angeles. The Millennium was just over in Asia, and brought back to the Pacific Coast early due to the coronavirus outbreak. Obviously the City of Santa Barbara just approved it. Should be interesting to tune in on Channel 18 today and listen to our City Council in action.
Is Mayor Murrillo misinformed? According to Mayor Murrillo “I appreciate Princess Cruises taking action and protecting the safety of the community and passengers. We are asking other cruise lines to follow their lead and take a cautious approach.” Princess did not cancel their visit out of concern for Santa Barbara. The cruise line had no choice with the time frame involved between the need to quarantine their staff and disinfecting the ship.
NOT a good idea to let ANY cruise ship stop here and let possibly infected passengers and tourists out. NO THANK YOU. Keep them at bay, or better yet, keep them away from here entirely!
I would encourage anyone who is concerned about this very serious issue to show up at the City Counsel meeting an let your voice be heard. Lives could literally be at stake if the City does not take a hard stand against anymore Cruise Ships coming here until this Virus is under control which will not be anytime soon.
I suggest calling her and leaving a message. I did that earlier today when I heard about Monterey cancelling the cruise ships. This was before the above announcement from city of SB . She phoned me back at 7:30ish tonight and was not rushed. I greatly appreciated it. And I did not vote for her.