Cruise lines planning ‘significant’ anti-coronavirus measures
Cruise lines are developing standards for shipboard coronavirus testing and plans for evacuating sick passengers and crew, protocols that could be deployed as soon as next week.
Vice President Mike Pence announced the effort Saturday after meeting with industry leaders in Port Everglades, Florida, calling the changes “significant“ and telling the cruise industry to “step up.”
Over the next 72 hours, the industry will work with the Centers for Disease Control and Department of Homeland Security to set protocols for screening passengers, shipboard testing and quarantines, and moving sick people to land.
“This will be an industry-led effort,” Pence told reporters. “We anticipate early next week that the cruise line industry and our administration will be able to announce significant progress in ensuring that we’re doing all we can to protect the health and well-being of the passengers of our cruise lines, the crews, and just as importantly the communities to which they return.”
The cruise industry is reeling from a string of on-board outbreaks and the shutdown of some routes. But even as Pence and federal officials urged calm on Saturday and downplayed the risk of COVID-19 to average Americans, the vice president advised senior citizens with underlying health conditions -- those most at risk from the virus -- to avoid cruising.
“This would be a good time to practice common sense and avoid activities, including traveling on a cruise line, that might unnecessarily expose them to the coronavirus,” Pence said as cruise executives stood by.
“We’re looking to the cruise line industry for action and for guidance and for flexibilty with their passengers who fall into that category,” Pence said. “We’re going to be looking for leadership from the cruise line industry”
Adam Goldstein, who stepped down as vice chairman of Royal Caribbean last week, said work already was under way.
“I want to state in very simple terms the determination of the industry to follow through on the commitments discussed in the meeting,” said Goldstein, who remains at the helm of the Cruise Lines International Association.
“We are hard at work already, even since the meeting ended. We look forward to an integrated and fruitful dialogue,” Goldstein told reporters.
The Grand Princess cruise ship was moored off the coast of California for days after dozens of people on board tested positive for the virus. On Saturday, a second cruise ship was stalled on California waters while a patient was tested for coronavirus.
“We are tracking at this point a ship that may have shared crew with the Diamond Princess or the Grand Princess,” Pence said. “They’re doing a full medical assessment of crew on that ship.”
