Despite a rise in COVID-19 cases on cruise ships, the health and safety protocols that have been in place since the cruise industry ramped up operations in summer 2021 have remained the same and, by all accounts, are keeping passengers safe.
As part of the CDC’s conditional sailing order, cruise lines have set aside space for those who test positive, and most passengers and crew are fully vaccinated and undergo testing before and during the sailing. Any positive test means potential quarantining, contact tracing and other measures.
A spokesperson for Royal Caribbean said the company’s safety and security protocols, including contact tracing, have “worked well” and it would continue to adjust its measures as needed, reports Wall Street Journal.
According to MSN, nearly one third of ships sailing from U.S. waters within the past week have had enough cases to warrant follow-up investigations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One notable instance occurred last weekend, when Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas reported 48 cases of COVID-19
According to the line, some of those infected were taken off ship “earlier in the sailing,” but most disembarked at the end of the voyage, and the cases “did not affect” the ship’s turnaround for its next voyage.
With more than 6,000 passengers and crew, 48 cases constituted less than 1 per cent of passengers on board, although anything 0.1 per cent or higher means the CDC will investigate the situation and places the ship in the agency’s “yellow status.”
According to an update on 20DEC, the CDC lists 33 vessels as yellow status, while another seven ships are under the less sever “orange status,” less than 0.1 per cent of passengers infected. Another 69 ships remain in green status with no COVID-19 cases reported.
Red status would be given if a ship’s onboard medical facilities were overwhelmed, but no ship has this status yet.
Proven Success
According to Carnival Corporation, 1.2 million guests have been aboard its ships since it resumed cruise operations in SEP 2020. After its Q4 results, the company plans to have 57 ships, or 67 per cent of its capacity, in service by the end of DEC 2021, with plans to have 100 per cent of its capacity operating by JUN 2022.
A spokesperson for Carnival Corp. said that, given the industry’s record of sailing millions of guests during the pandemic with enhanced health and safety protocols, renewed CDC shutdowns would be “unlikely and unnecessary.”
