Intervention Study on board MSC Sinfonia.

HEALTHY SAILING (HS) is progressing well and as a pathway towards scientific impact, HEALTHY SAILING (HS) has established a scientific evidence base.

  • Through systematic reviews and epidemiological studies, underlying evidence has been produced regarding infection frequency, risk factors and transmission dynamics of communicable diseases, and effectiveness of prevention, mitigation and management (PMM) measures considering different passenger ship types and profiles.
  • Preliminary results of mathematical modelling are producing evidence about the primary drivers of Norovirus and COVID-19 outbreaks onboard passenger ships, and the potential impact of measures such as isolation.
  • Experimental trial data has been produced to validate Computational Fluid Dynamics models to predict dispersion of respiratory droplets and aerosols in the ventilated environment of a passenger ship.
  • Analyses of the infection chain for Norovirus and COVID-19 considering the entire traveller journey helped identify and understand the critical points along the infection chain (focusing on the ship-board phase), with risk assessment prioritizing prevention, mitigation and management measures based on their effectiveness to interrupt the chain.
  • HS developed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for housekeeping personnel, delineating their responsibilities, the requisite equipment and supplies, and the detailed procedures for cleaning and disinfecting public toilet and cabin areas. Training materials were developed for the staff to facilitate the implementation of the novel procedures. The SOPs and training material are incorporated into an intervention study to assess their efficacy in enhancing the quality of cleaning and disinfection procedures on cruise ships. During the intervention study, surface samples will be retrieved and the cleaning processes will be monitored in accordance with predefined key performance indicators (Photo 1). With the SOPs for cleaning and disinfection of cruise cabins nearly finalised, the next ships visits will focus on recording the training videos and developing Augmented Reality training.
  • Moreover, the evidence produced through HEALTHY SAILING activities has been used to inform and feed other project outputs, developing evidence-informed COVID-19 training materials targeting passengers and crew, and evidence-based guidelines for COVID-19 prevention, mitigation and management in large passenger ships. The HS Blended Learning Training Toolkit is an innovative educational environment for the training of crew members, enriched with augmented reality hands-on training applications and open education resources available to passengers (Figure 1).

HEALTHY SAILING educational video targeting passengers

HEALTHY SAILING latest publications:

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