CDC bans cruises in U.S. waters until October citing ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks on ships

Cruising is banned in U.S. waters until Oct. 1 or until the COVID-19 pandemic is declared over, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Thursday.

The health agency extended its no-sail order for cruises, previously in place through July 24, for the second time during the COVID-19 pandemic amid continued disease outbreaks on cruise ships. The extension comes as the number of COVID-19 infections on land in the U.S. is surging.

“Cruise ship travel exacerbates the global spread of COVID-19.... The scope of this pandemic is inherently and necessarily a problem that is international and interstate in nature, and such transmission has not been controlled sufficiently by the cruise ship industry or individual State or local health authorities,” the order said.

The latest setback for the industry did not come as a surprise, as dozens of states are experiencing spikes in COVID-19 cases, including Florida, home of PortMiami — the world’s busiest cruise port — and headquarter offices for all of the major cruise companies. Florida’s Department of Health on Thursday confirmed 13,965 new cases of COVID-19, the second highest single-day total recorded in the state since the pandemic began in March.

Companies that are members of the cruise industry lobbying group Cruise Lines International Association, including Carnival Corp., Royal Caribbean Group, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, MSC Cruises, Disney Cruise Line and Virgin Voyages, had already canceled cruises through at least Sept. 14. Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line had canceled cruises through Aug. 28.

In a statement, CLIA said the industry remains aligned with the CDC in its commitment to public health and safety.

“As we continue to work towards the development of enhanced protocols to support the safe resumption of cruise operations around the world, we look forward to timely and productive dialogue with the CDC to determine measures that will be appropriate for ocean-going cruise operations to resume in the United States when the time is right,” the CLIA statement said.

Since the industry shut down on March 13, cruise companies have faced an unprecedented plunge in revenue and reported record financial losses.

While the last cruise passengers were able to disembark in early June, thousands of crew members are still awaiting repatriation without pay as many countries have travel restrictions in place. Some are still contracting COVID-19 on board.

Since March 1, cruise companies have reported 958 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 2,015 COVID-like illnesses to the CDC on cruise ships in U.S. waters and 34 COVID-19 deaths, according to the agency. Thirty-one of those confirmed cases and one of the deaths have occurred since June 23, records obtained by the Miami Herald show. The CDC attributed the new death to the Disney Wonder ship, but a spokesperson for the company said there have not been any COVID-19 cases on board since May 8. Disney points to the CDC’s classification of the ship as green on its infection rating system, meaning it’s been COVID-free for 28 days.

The CDC said the confirmed and suspected cases were part of 99 outbreaks on 123 different cruise ships since March.

A Miami Herald investigation has found at least 95 cruise passengers and crew have died worldwide from COVID-19 and at least 72 ships have been affected by the disease, representing 28% of the global ocean cruise fleet.

According to U.S. Coast Guard data, as of July 10, 2020, there are 67 ships in and around U.S. waters with 14,702 crew members onboard.

In the no-sail order extension published Thursday, the CDC cited repeated violations of the agency’s guidelines by cruise companies since mid-April. Companies took their ships outside U.S. waters to do unauthorized crew changes, failed to provide crew with individual cabins, continued offering buffets, and did not require social distancing and masks, the CDC said.

The CDC said cruise ship COVID-19 outbreaks have strained the agency’s resources — 38,000 person-hours since March 14 — and the resources of local health departments over the last four months. Dozens of cruise passenger and crew have been evacuated to Florida hospitals in operations involving local, state and federal health and law enforcement authorities.

As part of the previous no-sail extension issued on April 9, the CDC required cruise companies to submit plans to keep crews safe from COVID-19 and report COVID-like illness to the agency weekly. Only one cruise company’s plan is complete as of this month, the CDC said: Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line.

In June, the CDC launched a new color-coded grading system for ships: green for no confirmed cases of COVID-19 or COVID-like illness for 28 days, yellow for one or more COVID-like illness cases pending confirmation, red for one or more cases of confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like illness within the past 28 days. If the ship is designated green, and the company’s plan is complete, commercial transportation for crew repatriation is allowed.

Eight ships are currently graded as red by the CDC and 41 are graded as green. Carnival Corp. and Virgin Voyages have taken their ships out of U.S. waters and are not reporting infections to the agency, a CDC spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean Group and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings announced they have organized a panel of nine outside health experts and two advisors to draw up plans on preventing and treating COVID-19 at sea by the end of August.

Carnival Corp.’s AIDA Cruises brand will begin cruises from Germany at less than 50% capacity starting on Aug. 5. The cruises will not have any port calls.