On March 14, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) banned cruise ships from boarding passengers in the United States and from navigating in American waters. This order or document called “No Sail Order” has been extended several times (April, July, September). Cruise companies were invited during this period to reflect on health plans and measures to be applied for the resumption of activity.
On October 31, 2020, the No Sail Order was replaced by the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order. This new document - also drafted and published by the CDC - is an ordinance which specifies the regulatory framework to be followed during cruises of more than 250 passengers.
One of the conditions for operating again will be for companies to have, of course, adequate health and safety protections for crew members and customers, but also to strengthen their capacity to detect the virus among crews. and passengers.
During the next few weeks, the health prevention measures defined during the No Sail Order will be tested.
Cruises will be organized with people volunteering to play the role of passengers. The CDC will then assess companies on their ability to mitigate the risk of contamination on board ships and certify the protocols in place. It is only after all these validated stages that companies will be authorized to embark passengers in the United States and / or to navigate in American waters.
To justify the need for a Framework for Conditional Sailing Order and the application of strict instructions on board ships, the CDC relies on information provided by scientists. The latter indicate "that in the absence of health measures to limit the spread of covid-19, cruise ships would continue to present a greater risk of transmission of the virus than other environments". Due to the density of people on board, density which is higher than in a big city. An article published in April in the Journal of Travel Medicine, indicated that the contamination rate on the Diamond Princess in January 2020 (liner which had left Japan with symptomatic cases and which had returned to port with 19,2% of people on board contaminated), was four times higher than that measured in Wuhan, the region from which the virus started. Each positive person on board infected 15 people.
The publication of this ordinance prompted the members of the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) to keep their activities on departure from the United States suspended until December 31 of this year, among the members include the largest cruise lines (Royal Caribbean and Carnival). (soualigapost.com)
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