Every US passenger cruise currently has Covid cases on board
All 92 ships in US waters have reported infections
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Your support makes all the difference.Every passenger cruise currently sailing in US waters has reported Covid-19 cases onboard.
All 92 ships have now met the threshold for investigation by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports the Washington Post.
At the beginning of the new year, the US’s national public health agency issued a warning against taking cruises, even for those who are fully vaccinated, after a huge surge in cases onboard.
More than 5,000 infections were recorded on passenger ships in the last two weeks of December 2021, compared to just 162 in the first two weeks of the same month.
“The virus that causes Covid-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting Covid-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a Covid-19 vaccine booster dose,” the CDC warns in its official guidance.
Most cruise lines have put in place stringent measures, such as requiring all crew and most passengers to be fully vaccinated and to present a negative Covid test before boarding the ship.
However, this does not appear to be enough to stop coronavirus cases developing on board.
Last month, the world’s largest cruise liner, Symphony of the Seas, was found to have 48 Covid infections when it docked in Miami.
In a statement, Royal Caribbean said that each person who had tested positive on arrival immediately went into quarantine, while six people who had tested positive onboard had already disembarked the ship mid-voyage.
Those who tested positive were either asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, said the statement.
The Symphony of the Seas had departed on 11 December with 6,091 passengers aboard, 95 per cent of whom were fully vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Norwegian Cruise Line has cancelled a nine-day Caribbean sailing on Norwegian Getaway, due to depart Miami on 5 January, due to “Covid-related circumstances”.
The brand also curtailed an 11-night sailing aboard the Norwegian Pearl, bound for the Panama Canal, on 3 January.
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