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You won’t be required to assemble at a designated spot on the ship to hear the pre-departure safety instruction, also known as the “safety muster drill.” Instead, passengers can watch parts of the safety drill on their stateroom televisions or on a cruise ship app. Most ships are sailing at less than full capacity, partly to encourage physical distancing. The Majestic Princess left on its maiden voyage from the Port of Los Angeles at about 60% capacity. Carnival Corp., the world’s largest cruise company, reported that bookings for the second half of 2022 already surpassed bookings for 2019. Royal Caribbean cruises for 2022 are nearly at 2019 levels, the company’s chief financial officer, Jason Liberty, said on a recent earnings call. In an email to NPR, a spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association said the trade group was "disappointed" by the CDC's latest advisory against cruise ship travel.
Diagnostic Tests for Acute Viral Respiratory Illness (ARI)
Routine vaccinations protect you from infectious diseases that can spread quickly in groups of people. Outbreaks of chickenpox, influenza, and COVID-19 have been reported on cruise ships. Of course, if you do test positive for COVID-19 on a ship, you will, unfortunately, face what could be several days of isolation in a cabin on a ship or on land.
Outbreak Control
The CDC said 88 vessels are now either under investigation or observation, but it did not specify how many COVID-19 cases have been reported. A crew member on the Breakaway, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to the news media, said he first heard about the outbreak from a friend and fellow employee. When he contacted management, they neither shared the number of positive cases nor identified who was infected. If you traveled and feel sick, particularly if you have a fever, talk to a healthcare provider and tell them about your travel. Check CDC’s webpage for your destination to see what vaccines or medicines you may need and what diseases or health risks are a concern at your destination. The cruise industry suffered its biggest financial blow in decades when the COVID-19 pandemic halted most sailings for months and made nervous cruise fans think twice about booking an ocean voyage.
Shots - Health News
Since the cruise industry restarted operations in the United States this June, its efforts to keep the coronavirus at bay — or at least contained, unlike the major outbreaks experienced in 2020 — have been largely successful. Most cruise companies mandate full vaccinations for crew and most passengers, and have implemented strict health and safety protocols to swiftly identify coronavirus cases onboard and reduce their spread. One day after the C.D.C. advised against all travel on cruise ships, thousands of cruisers partied like it was 2019. But worries about onboard policies — and frustration over quarantines — are rising. For now, CDC guidance allows cruise ships to relax measures — such as mask usage — if at least 95% of passengers and 95% of the cruise ship crew are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. Following the identification of the omicron variant, there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among cruise passengers and crew reported to the agency, the CDC said.
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CDC recognizes that cruise ships travel worldwide, necessitating awareness of, and responsiveness to, local jurisdictional requirements. Cruise ship management and medical staff need to be flexible in identifying and caring for people with ARI. The healthcare provider’s assessment of a patient’s clinical presentation and underlying risk factors is always an essential part of decisions about the need for further medical evaluation, testing, and treatment.
Sun Princess
The agency currently identifies 86 ships where the number of Covid-19 cases meets the threshold for investigation — a 178% jump in 10 days — as the omicron variant spreads quickly across the U.S.. Medical centers on cruise ships can vary widely depending on ship size, itinerary, length of cruise, and passenger demographics. Hochberg told Insider that the treatment he received during his time on the ship was fantastic. In less than an hour, a medical team consisting of a doctor and nurse tested him again as well as his family who tested negative.
Cruise ships are allowed to relax mask use onboard if at least 95% of passengers and 95% of crew are fully vaccinated or in specific areas accessible only to fully vaccinated passengers. “However, CDC continues to advise cruise ship operators to require masks indoors and in crowded outdoor areas regardless of vaccination status due to the increased transmissibility of variants of concern,” said Reed. The Carnival Freedom was denied entry to Aruba and Bonaire after an undisclosed number of passengers and crew aboard caught the virus.
Coronavirus Updates
While the CDC said the rise in cases since the identification of the omicron variant prompted it to issue a level 4 warning about cruising on Thursday, the CDC long anticipated cases on board ships, in part because of the very nature of cruising. For what it's worth, more than 80 countries around the world -- including a good chunk of all the places you might want to travel -- are on this list. But the warning shouldn't be seen as a call-out on any elevated risk to cruising as opposed to visiting other places, per se. Such a protocol comes at the recommendation of the CDC, which has set guidelines for how cruise lines should respond to COVID-19-positive cases on board ships, and it has worked well for the past year.
The cancellations come as lines struggle to maintain adequate staffing levels on some ships due to crew members testing positive. When crew test positive, they and their close contacts must stop working and isolate, even if asymptomatic, leaving shipboard venues short-staffed. Cruise lines in recent weeks have faced a growing number of ports that are balking at allowing ships with COVID-19-positive passengers or crew to dock. It’s worth stressing that Covid-19 is showing up on ships where virtually all the passengers and crew are fully vaccinated. Even so, and even with masking protocols and pre-departure testing, the system is not leakproof because it also relies on the honor system. Since mid-December, the number of cruise ships reporting Covid-19 has jumped from 32 to 89.
Persons requiring medical attention for other conditions or for symptoms consistent with COVID-19 were evaluated, tested for SARS-CoV-2 infection, and hospitalized if indicated. During land-based quarantine in the United States, all persons were offered SARS-CoV-2 testing. As of March 21, of 469 persons with available test results, 78 (16.6%) had positive test results for SARS-CoV-2.
This means that many sailings are going ahead as planned, with little disruption, even when some passengers and crew on the trips test positive for COVID-19. I experienced this myself in late December when on a Silversea vessel where four passengers tested positive for COVID-19. Some passengers who were deemed close contacts of the passengers who tested positive were isolated for a short period while being tested for COVID-19. But the positive cases had little impact on most of the passengers on board the vessel, and the voyage went ahead as planned.
Cruise Industry Continues Strong Growth Post-Covid - Forbes
Cruise Industry Continues Strong Growth Post-Covid.
Posted: Thu, 22 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]
Hochberg decided to disembark where the ship was docked, in Vancouver, Canada, and drive his rental car back to the US. The threshold is higher for passengers on restricted voyages; the number of passengers with COVID-19 or COVID-19-like illnesses over the preceding seven days must equal or surpass 0.10% of the total number of passengers on board to merit investigation. So if a ship has 5,000 passengers, it would need at least five cases over seven days to be classified as yellow. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is monitoring or investigating 94 ships for COVID-19 as of Monday, as it warns Americans to "avoid cruise travel" regardless of vaccination status. In addition, most cruise lines now are requiring passengers to wear masks at all times while in interior spaces of vessels, and they have stepped up cleaning regimens, improved air filtration systems on ships and made other onboard changes. Cruise lines are reporting that the vast majority of passengers testing positive for COVID-19 in recent weeks are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms.
Crew members and fellow travelers often board a cruise ship from destinations where some diseases are more common than in the United States or where vaccination is not routine. To go onshore, you must meet the health protocols of the country the ship visits. The government of the Bahamas, for example, recently announced that all cruise visitors must be fully vaccinated, with the exception of travelers under age 12 and those with medical exemptions. On October 21, Princess cruise line updated its COVID policy to welcome all guests, regardless of vaccination status.
On March 5, a response team was transported by helicopter to the ship to collect specimens from 45 passengers and crew with respiratory symptoms for SARS-CoV-2 testing; 21 (46.7%), including two passengers and 19 crew, had positive test results. Passengers and symptomatic crew members were asked to self-quarantine in their cabins, and room service replaced public dining until disembarkation. Following docking in Oakland, California, on March 8, passengers and crew were transferred to land-based sites for a 14-day quarantine period or isolation.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 5,013 COVID-19 cases had been reported on cruise vessels operating in U.S. waters during the last two weeks of the month, up from just 162 cases during the first two weeks of the month. Respirators or well-fitting masks should be readily available and symptomatic passengers and crew should be encouraged to use them if they have to be outside their cabins. People with ARI should be advised of the importance of covering coughs and sneezes and keeping hands clean because respiratory viruses may be shed after the isolation period ends. [4] Back-to-back sailing refers to passengers who stay on board for two or more voyages. All passengers and crew are also recommended to be up to date with all routine vaccines. "Our warnings have proved sadly prescient and continuously compelling. Time for CDC and cruise lines to protect consumers, again pause — docking their ships," the Connecticut senator posted on Twitter.
The current protocol on most ships is to quickly isolate COVID-19-positive passengers and their close contacts. Anecdotal reports are that the number of cases on ships is up even more in the first 10 days of the new year. Still, the situation isn't anywhere near as dramatic or disruptive as what we saw at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years ago, when whole ships were being quarantined due to outbreaks of the illness and, eventually, the entire industry shut down.
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