CDC Stops Reporting COVID-19 Cases on Cruise Ships—Here's How You Can Still Stay Safe
CDC stops monitoring COVID-19 cases on cruise ships
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discontinued a program that tracked cases of COVID-xix aboard cruise ships in the U.S. and reported the findings to the public.
The initiative, called the COVID-19 Plan for Cruise Ships, ended Monday, co-ordinate to the authorities agency.
"CDC will continue to publish guidance to help cruise ships go along to provide a safer and healthier environment for passengers, crew and communities going forward," the agency said on its website.
For two years, the CDC actively monitored COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships, using a colour-coded chart to show dissimilar levels of manual. Cruise lines that opted into the plan agreed to follow all of the agency's recommendations and guidance.
Some of the earliest COVID-19 outbreaks took identify on cruise ships, where cases spread speedily among passengers bars to the vessels. Prowl lines were too among the virtually severely affected businesses during the pandemic, particularly before vaccines existed, when social distancing was the master measure used to comprise the virus.
The number of people booking cruises plummeted over the past two years. In 2020 and 2021, cruise companies lost a collective $63 billion and shed thousands of jobs, co-ordinate to industry data.
Individual decision
The prowl industry has since ramped up their operations despite the ongoing risks of COVID-19, and the CDC volition proceed to publish cruise-specific guidance on how to best mitigate the risks of spreading the illness while at ocean.
The decision to wind downwards the coronavirus tracking program for cruises was made in part because the bureau believes the industry is capable of managing the risks on its own.
"CDC has determined that the prowl industry has access to the necessary tools (eastward.g., prowl-specific recommendations and guidance, vaccinations, testing instruments, handling modalities and non-pharmaceutical interventions) to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 on board," an agency spokesperson said in a statement to CBS MoneyWatch. "Therefore, CDC's COVID-19 Plan for Cruise Ships is no longer in outcome equally of today."
Private cruise lines may now set their ain policies related to COVID-19, such every bit travel requirements for passengers and staff, besides as what protocols are implemented aboard ships.
The CDC urged travelers to exist in touch with cruise operators for data nigh their policies, noting that safety measures will probable vary from company to company.
The CDC also reiterated that prowl-line travel continues to pose "some gamble of COVID-19 manual," only the decision to prowl or non to cruise, and whether to get vaccinated and tested, is in the hands of individuals.
No vaccine required
Princess Cruises, a major manufacture player, is encouraging vaccinated and unvaccinated passengers akin to come aboard. The cruise line updated its guidance Monday with the CDC'southward declaration, saying it can now adjust more unvaccinated guests on sailings "without crushing exemptions or vaccine status justification."
Ruby Princess, a Princess Cruises ship, in March docked in San Francisco after a number of passengers and crew members tested positive for COVID-19, despite being vaccinated confronting the virus.
Azamara, an upmarket cruise line, also pounced on the news, announcing on Tuesday that it'due south dropping pre-cruise COVID-19 testing requirements for guests effective July 25, except at ports where state regulations still crave it.
"The easing of our testing policy marks a step in the right direction towards a render to normalcy for the travel and cruising industry," Azamara President Carol Cabezas said in a statement provided to CBS MoneyWatch.
The cruise line continues to require that guests exist vaccinated to travel aboard its ships, and recommends testing for guests.
Purple Caribbean said it is awaiting updated guidance from the CDC before amending its existing protocols. Currently, the company requires adult guests who sail from U.S. ports to be vaccinated and to provide a negative PCR or antigen exam taken no more ii days before they lath.
Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cdc-cruise-ships-covid-19-tracking-program-ends/
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