Five Oasis of the Seas crew with COVID-19 symptoms evacuated at Port Everglades this week
Two crew members showing COVID-19 symptoms on the Oasis of the Seas were evacuated at Port Everglades Sunday evening.
The ship has been sailing around South Florida since offloading its last passengers at PortMiami on March 15. At least 14 crew members on board have tested positive for COVID-19. The crew members evacuated Sunday are the fourth and fifth to leave the ship for medical treatment at Port Everglades in the last week.
On March 30, one Oasis of the Seas crew member and one Symphony of the Seas crew member were evacuated with respiratory problems. On April 2, two more Oasis crew members were evacuated to Broward Health hospitals.
The U.S. Coast Guard said it facilitated the latest Oasis crew member evacuations on Sunday, along with another evacuation from the Celebrity Infinity ship off Tampa on Saturday previously reported by the Miami Herald. The ships are owned by Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
More than 35 cruise ships with 35,000 crew members aboard are now in U.S. waters around Florida, the Coast Guard said in a statement Monday. The Coast Guard is urging cruise companies to bulk up their medical capabilities on the ships so as to not overwhelm medical facilities on land.
“The entire DHS team is working together to ensure no seafarer will be left untreated during this emergency to the best of our collective ability, however, proactive measures are critical to ensuring our limited search and rescue resources and already stressed shore-side medical services do not get over-burdened,” said Rear Admiral Eric Jones, commander of the 7th District, in a statement Monday.
Passengers who sailed on the last cruise aboard the Oasis of the Seas on March 8 received an email from the company on March 26 notifying them that they may have been exposed to COVID-19 while on board. The company waited two days until March 28 to notify crew still still on the ship about their exposure when the captain announced 14 people had tested positive.
In the meantime, crew say they were encouraged to take advantage of activities normally off limits to them like passenger buffets and bars and the pool.
“We were going in very big lines to get the food,” one crew member said. “The captain kept saying this ship is very healthy, we don’t have any cases on board. We were enjoying venues, going to the bar, everybody was socializing.”
Jonathan Fishman, a spokesperson for the company, said crew who had close contact with the person who had tested positive were immediately isolated and monitored, and said the company is working to get crew members home as fast as possible.
“We’re working with government officials, port authorities and airlines to get our crew members back home and we can’t wait to start sailing again,” said Fishman via email.
This story was originally published April 6, 2020 at 4:32 PM.
