People over 70 will soon be denied cruise boarding in effort to combat coronavirus
People over 70 will soon be denied boarding on cruise ships, according to two industry sources familiar with proposals submitted to the White House Tuesday.
The new age-specific rule, first reported by USA Today, is part of the cruise industry’s agreement with the White House to come up with ways to better keep crew and passengers COVID-19-free as the disease continues to spread across the globe.
Once the proposal gets the green light from the White House, cruise passengers over 70 will only be able to board cruises if they have a note from their doctors clearing them for travel, the sources said. It may take time to ramp up the rule, they cautioned, and at first the older cruisers will be subject to additional medical screenings at the ports.
The industry also proposed procuring COVID-19 test kits for on board cruise ships and offered contingency plans for treating and quarantining passengers and crew on land in the case of another cruise ship outbreak, said the chairman of the industry’s lobbying group Cruise Lines International Association, Adam Goldstein, on Tuesday.
The proposals come nearly a month and a half after the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantine began in Japan. That ship became the source of the largest COVID-19 outbreak outside of China in early February, leaving eight people dead and around 700 infected.
But it was a second quarantine, this time in California, that spurred the White House call for changes. Twenty-one people, 19 of them crew members, tested positive for COVID-19 aboard the Grand Princess ship last week. The ship remains in the port of Oakland Wednesday as state and federal health agencies evacuate passengers.
While Vice President Mike Pence has reassured cruise company CEOs that cruising can continue, albeit with ramped-up sanitation and health screening, the State Department and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are warning all Americans to avoid cruise travel.
“Cruise ship passengers are at increased risk of person-to-person spread of infectious diseases, including COVID-19,” the CDC advisory said. “Older adults and travelers with underlying health issues should avoid situations that put them at increased risk for more severe disease. This entails avoiding crowded places, avoiding non-essential travel such as long plane trips, and especially avoiding embarking on cruise ships.”
Cruise executives, unhappy about the advisories, are in Washington, D.C., Wednesday meeting with White House representatives and Congressional lawmakers. With them is Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez, who announced plans Tuesday to convert a PortMiami warehouse into a triage center in the event that a cruise ship with an outbreak needs to dock there.
Pence and the industry are trying to focus cruise concern on older individuals, encouraging young, healthy people to keep their reservations. On Monday, just one day after the government warned people to avoid cruising, thousands boarded ships at PortMiami, including people in their 70s and 80s.
The director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease, Dr. Nancy Messonnier, echoed that difference at a teleconference Tuesday hosted by AARP.
She advised all Americans to avoid “congregate settings” and recommended that older travelers with underlying health conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes and lung disease, defer cruise travel and long plane trips.
Asked to define a “long” plane ride, Messonnier said the measure might differ depending on the age and health status of the traveler.
“If you are in the oldest age group in your 80s and have underlying health issues, truthfully it’s probably not a great idea for you to get on any flight,” she said. “If you’re in your mid 60s and healthy, I think it’s fine to take small flights within the United States.”
Messonnier said the CDC is concerned about long flights because of the close quarters and the opportunity for travelers to exchange germs.
Asked if there are any safe places to travel to while the coronavirus is spreading, Messonnier declined to name any locations and reiterated that the number of cases is likely to continue rising globally.
“It’s important for us all not to equate this situation with the general idea that cruises are not safe,” she said, calling the coronavirus epidemic “an unprecedented situation.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2020 at 2:50 PM.
