"The cruise ship conditions clearly amplified an already highly transmissible disease," the epidemiologists write. Over the past decade, cruise companies operating out of U.S. ports alone have reported an average of almost 3,200 such illnesses each year. Klein says that part of the problem might be that a modest amount of sickness has traditionally been a money-maker for cruise companies. On-board health care isn't free. For cruise companies that may mean challenging consumers' definition of "high-end" and moving from fabric finishes to surfaces that can be more easily cleaned.

Source: CBC News March 10, 2020 08:02 UTC