Success Story

https://newslit.org/

Before you go on, an article in the May 8 & May 22 issue of Science News ran with a cover "Awash in Deception:  How science can help us avoid being duped by misinformation."  In the lead article titled: "The Battle Against Fake News," Alexandra Witze presents five suggestions on how to debunk bad information.  They come from the News Literacy Project (see the above link).

How to Debunk:

1.  Arm yourself with media literacy skills, at sites such as the News Literacy Project (newslit.org), to better understand how to spot hoax videos and stories.

2.  Don't stigmatize people for holding inaccurate beliefs.  Show empathy and respect, or you're more likely to alienate your audience than successfully share accurate information.

3.  Translate complicated but true ideas into simple messages that are easy to grasp.  Videos, graphics and other visual aids can help.

4.  When possible, once you provide a factual alternative to the misinformation, explain the underlying fallacies (such as cherry- picking information, a common tactic of climate change deniers.

5.  Mobilize when you see misinformation being shared on social media as soon as possible. If you see something, say something.

"Misinformation is any information that is incorrect, whether due to error or fake news.  

"Disinformation is deliberately intended to deceive."

"Propaganda is disinformation with a political agenda."

Sander van der Linden
Social Psychologist
University of Cambridge

Source:  Science News/May 8, 2021 & May 22, 2021

Kudos to the Polar Latitudes Antarctic tour company and adventure travel organizer Wilderness Travel for a COVID-free and mask free experience for all but the first two days of our Solar Eclipse/South Georgia Island/Antarctica cruise.  Your protocols were spot on in allowing the 110 passengers on board the Seaventure to live and thrive in our mask free bubble for the final 15 days of our 18-day cruise.

Special kudos to Dr. Luann Freer and Dr. Robert Partridge for developing the protocols for this voyage.  There were stories floating (pun intended) around the ship that two cruise vessels were forced to return to the port of origin, Ushuaia, Argentina to quarantine after one or more passengers tested positive for COVID.

So how did our trip manage to go without a COVID hitch for nearly three weeks?  The answer is really quite simple.  We were all required to be vaccinated at least a month before we arrived at our staging spot at the Alvear Art Hotel in Buenos Aires.  The Argentine government required a Negative COVID test no more than 72 hours before arrival in Argentina.  That was a tricky proposition in itself, but that is a story for another day.

We were tested by Wilderness Travel in Buenos Aires.  Every one of us passengers tested Negative.  The next day we were put on busses and transported to the airport where we hopped on our charter flight for the port of embarkation at Ushuaia. 

Still in masks as we would remain for the next two days on the water, we maintained our meal groups that had been established back in Buenos Aires at the hotel.  On the third day at sea, we again received a rapid test.  When everyone again tested Negative, we were determined to be COVID free and were able to roam about the ship and eat with people outside of our pods mask free for the remainder of the trip.

I’m going to make a big deal out of this because this cruise was a model for how to successfully combat COVID and return to some semblance of normal life.  The crew of the Seaventure as well a Polar Latitude and Wilderness Travel staff went through the same protocols.  The crew of the Seaventure, at least those with frequent contact with passengers, kept their masks on for the duration of the cruise.

The protocols worked beautifully which begs the question that if 200 people in relatively close quarters on a cruise ship can create a COVID-free bubble, why can’t this model be duplicated on a larger scale?

I’m going to get political for a brief moment only to make the point that COVID is NOT a political issue.  It is a public health issue.  The people who have turned us into Red and Blue camps around COVID are to be condemned for their actions.  Although I have my opinions on the motivations of these people for creating COVID Free-Spread regions of the U.S., I can say that their actions are, at best, innocently ignorant and at worst criminally negligent in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.  Shame on them.

While under the care of Wilderness Travel and Polar Latitudes from November 21-December 12, 2021, we were able to halt the spread of the COVID.  We did have a small outbreak of a common cold virus towards the end of the cruise, but thanks to immunization against COVID, frequent and thorough hand washing, social distancing and mask wearing, we were able to basically halt the spread of the more dangerous COVID because it simply had no host to infect and simply died out in our 200- member bubble.

Can this be repeated with a larger population?  The answer is yes.  The science is quite simple.  A virus can’t survive outside of a warm body.  Take away the warm bodies that it needs to survive and it will die.  End of story.

The point of this is to point out what a success looks like in ending the global COVID pandemic.  Thanks to those that showed us and taught us about this marvelous, fragile wonderland and, incidentally, showed us how to deal with a deadly virus.