The date was Feb. 20, 2020. The novel coronavirus had its tentacles burrowed deep in China. It was now extending its reach in dribs and drabs to Southeast Asia, Europe, Australia, Canada, and the United States. The World Health Organization (WHO)’s Situation Report recorded 75,748 total cases globally on this day, 98 percent of which were in China. WHO called it an epidemic: the outbreak of a rapidly spreading disease. Global surveillance was underway, but the virus did not yet rise to the level of pandemic: a disease all over the world.
While the western world monitored the virus’s spread with detached concern, unaware of how profoundly their lives would change in a few short weeks, global cruise line operator Carnival Corporation was already knee-deep in the virus’s warpath, a swelling cluster of COVID-19 cases having manifested aboard one of its vessels. More surges of cases aboard ships on other cruise lines would soon follow, as well as some of Carnival’s other floating cities.
