US CDC investigating nearly 70 cruise ships following COVID-19 outbreak on board

As the 'highly mutated' Omicron variant has turned the holiday travel over the Christmas weekend upside down, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States announced on Monday that it was examining almost 70 cruise ships after reports of COVID-19 infections on board, DT Next reported. As per the CDC website, 68 ships have either reached the organisation's "investigation threshold" of COVID-19 outbreaks among crew or passengers, or the health authority has reported to the agency about positive COVID-19 passengers who departed within five days. 

According to the website, CDC is dedicated to working with ship operators to ensure that passenger activities on cruise ships are managed in a way that decreases the risk of COVID-19 spreading among members of the crew, passengers, as well as port workers. Presently, the CDC is examining 36 ships, and it has already examined at another 32, but these vessels are still "under observation." Further, Disney, MSC Cruises, Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity Cruises are among the cruise lines whose ships have been affected. 

Remarks of the cruise operators

According to a Carnival representative, the CDC has been completely informed and supportive of its policies and operating plans. the CDC has been completely informed and supportive of its policies and operating plans, according to a Carnival representative. Likewise, an MSC Cruises spokesman told the Business Insider that the cruise line's health standards had accommodated more than one million guests. These procedures, as of late November, contained a COVID-19 vaccination mandate, among other regulations.  

Meanwhile, in a statement, a spokesperson for the Cruise Lines International Association said that in part due to vaccine mandates, cruise ships had seen fewer COVID-19 instances than the general population on "land." However, as per a CDC spokesman, the risk of contracting the virus when sailing is still "high," and cruises cannot be considered a "zero-risk activity."  

This announcement came as COVID-19 infections continue to rise along with the Omicron strain. Some ships have been prevented from passenger disembarkation or ports as a result of this, and three major cruise companies have implemented stronger masking requirements, the Business Insider reported. Furthermore, the spike in the disease, along with the advent of winter weather has caused several flights to cancel during the weekend in the US.  

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