Interesting thought.

What if we assume that either the tests are so sensitive (or error prone) that they can pick up signatures of the virus even when there is so little that it will not harm the carrier and cannot infect anyone else? The only way these nine cases were discovered was through administering a test when there were no signs that a test was necessary. Had they been Villagers they would not have been tested and would have continued with their daily lives with no one being harmed. It is possible that if Covid tests were administered to everyone in the crowd at the squares last night there would be several positive results too. Perhaps the testing protocols needs to change or the levels required to be labeled a "positive" test need to be adjusted.

One way to prevent a quarantine on a cruise is don't look for trouble without a reason to; don't administer Covid tests to individuals showing no symptoms.

If a Covid test is performed on a symptomatic individual and comes back positive, assume the unfortunate person is part of the 0.008% (or whatever the current low number is) and isolate the symptomatic individual. Assume the rest of the passengers are in the 99.992% group and let the cruise continue. If a true outbreak occurs, meaning there are several symptomatic individuals, only then would additional measures need to be taken.

I do understand the fear of being inconvenienced by a poorly-considered, mass quarantine. I am far more worried about an overreaction by the cruise line or the health officials than I am of Covid, "acting out of an abundance of caution" truly frightens me.

I think you miss the point. Any coronavirus, not just COVID-19, can trigger a positive result. You could literally have an outbreak of a cold on the ship and wind up quarantined in your cabin for weeks because of false positive tests.

When you submit to government overreach, you take your chances.

Exactly! Good post.

Are you saying that these Covid tests are not specific for the Covid virus? I've always thought these Covid tests are not accurate as there are too many false positives. Are these false positives because they are detecting corona viruses that cause the common cold? Yikes. That is truly ludicrous.

One cruise line, NCL, is requiring fulling vaccinated crew and passengers. I do not think NCL is requiring Covid testing, just the vaccine. But.....having said that, there are countries for ports of call that do require a Covid test. This could be a huge problem if people have a common cold and test positive on a Covid test. That just sucks!