The new explosion of covid-19 triggered contagion investigations in the cruise ships by the authorities in the United States, while some shipping companies toughen measures Y further limit their occupation in the hopes that the highly contagious new omicron variant will be less deadly.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigates the outbreak of the last 7 days in 68 cruises in the middle of the Christmas season, despite the almost total vaccination of the crew and passengers.
Michael Bayley, President of Royal Caribbean, a company that stopped these days the new reservations for the first weeks of January due to omicron, he pointed out that he expects it is about the “beginning of the end of this virus and (…) its transformation to spread quickly and be less harmful, like the common cold (if vaccinated) “.
The Celebrity Millennium, also with two sick passengers. Photo: AFP
The outbreak resurfaces on board
While authorities decipher the scope of the new strain, the pandemic keep messing up Christmas plans of many travelers either by decision of the shipping companies, frightened or infected travelers who aborted their plans or by the Governments, who have the last word when it comes to allow the arrival of ships to their countries.
On Sunday the “Carnival Freedom” returned to Miami (Florida) after being rejected on the Caribbean island of Bonaire by a small outbreak of the pathogen.
That same day the “Odyssey of the Seas” docked in Fort Lauderdale, some 42 kilometers north of Miami, after fifty of its passengers and crew tested positive despite being 95% vaccinated.
Luggage sanitation on the MSC Grandiosa near Rome. Photo: AP
This Royal Caribbean International ship withdrew from its trip to the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Aruba as a precautionary measure.
Last Thursday the Koningsdam cruise ship, from Holland America, which was going to make a stop in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) had to return to San Diego (USA) after the Mexican authorities rejected it because it a score of crew members were infected.
A day before, the health authorities of Cartagena (Colombia) denied the disembarkation of the passengers and crew of the “Seven Seas Mariner”, of Regent Seven Seas Cruises, after the captain reported seven positive cases.
The ship came from Florida, a state where the contagion soared last Saturday, with about 33,000 daily cases, the largest on record in Florida since March 2020.
Seriously ill, no
Investigations of cruise ships with infected passengers and crew have skyrocketed in the last week, according to data updated Monday by the CDC.
Passengers sunbathe aboard the MSC Grandiosa in Civitavecchia. Photo: AP
About seventy ships are under a “yellow” alert because in the last 7 days at least 0.10% of the passengers have presented contagion of covid-19 or symptoms of the virus (for example, if there are 6,500 passengers on board at least 7 of those cases).
This percentage includes passenger cases that occur within 5 days of disembarkation and reported to the CDC by state or local health departments.
Similarly, this alert applies if one or more crew members are infected, or if the shipping company has failed in the last week with the daily report on the pandemic.
Bayley, executive director of Royal Caribbean, specified in his Facebook account that research is “bad news and good news.”
Research confirms that people are infected but not seriously ill if they are vaccinated. Photo: AP
“More and more reports confirm what we are seeing on board! This new variant spreads quickly, but nobody (vaccinated) seems to get very sick “, he stressed.
In that sense, he recalled that the CDC has recognized that in the “Odyssey of the Seas”, which presented contagion of 55 people, “there have been no hospitalizations, medical evacuations, use of ventilators or deaths “from covid-19.
Bayley further noted that, with the new variant, positivity rates on some Royal Caribbean ships are around 1%, well below the US national rate (from about 15% in the last 7 days). and from the states of its large home ports in Florida, California and Texas.
To prevent the spread of the virus, Royal Caribbean has limited the occupation of its ships and stopped last week the cruise reservations planned for before the middle of next January.
The omicron strain led to the return of the mandatory use of chinstraps. Photo: AP
Likewise, it announced as a temporary measure due to the omicron strain the return to the mandatory use of chinstraps, as did Carnival Cruise Line and Norwegian, as well. all based in Miami, in closed spaces except when passengers are eating or drinking.
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), which represents 95% of companies with ocean cruises, recalled that this industry is leading the way with strict health and safety measures.
He noted that the protocols include testing, vaccination, screening, sanitation, improved ventilation, wearing of masks and physical distancing, among others.
The organization projects that the shipping industry will reactivate its full capacity by mid-2022.
EFE
ap
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