As dozens of ships hover offshore, Bahamas says no sick cruise passengers, crew allowed
A new U.S. Coast Guard memo asks the dozens of cruise ships hovering just off Florida’s coast to first ask the countries where their vessels are flagged for help with critically ill passengers and crew, before straining U.S. medical resources.
But the Bahamas, where many of those ships are flagged, said it can’t take sick people either.
In response to the March 29 memo, the Bahamas Maritime Authority said in a statement that the nation cannot take anyone ashore.
“We are a small island developing state with a national population in the three hundred thousand. We are proud of the medical care that we afford our people, but it is scaled to our population size. Our system is not designed to deal with a massive influx of new COVID-19 patients from outside our country,” the statement read.
On March 12, the island notably turned away a Bahamian-flagged ship, the Braemar, because five people on board had tested positive. The ship docked in Cuba.
The most recent medical evacuations of sick people from cruise ships have been from Bahamian-flagged cruise ships to U.S. hospitals. This week, two crew members have been evacated “for medical reasons” off the Oasis of the Seas, owned by Miami-based Royal Caribbean.
The Coast Guard memo to cruise ships asks them to prepare to hold sick people on board “for an indefinite time,” because the U.S. medical system is already strained. It also requires cruise ships that seek to evacuate a sick person to arrange and pay for private transportation from the boat to shore as well as book a private ambulance and confirm with local hospitals that a bed is available.
Five ships near the Bahamas belong to Royal, and all are Bahamian-flagged. Royal did not answer questions about how or where it planned to medically evacuate any future sick crew or how many crew members are still at sea. The Bahamas also did not respond to an inquiry on what its protocol is should it receive such a request.
Royal Caribbean spokesman Jonathon Fishman said in a statement:
“We are in continuous contact with government and public health authorities and appreciate their guidance in protecting the health of our crewmembers. The well-being of our crew is our foremost concern, and we are communicating with them directly as we continue to implement rigorous health protocols, provide medical resources and support, and follow enhanced cleaning and sanitization procedures onboard our ships.”
Norwegian Cruise Line, which has four ships docked in Nassau, did not respond to a request for comment.
The Bahamas has 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and has seen three deaths so far, Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a Friday evening press conference.
The Bahamas is likely trying to avoid the fate of other island nations that accepted sick passengers from cruise ships.
The Cayman Islands’ first case of COVID-19 was an evacuated cruise passenger from the Costa Luminosa, who later died. The patient infected at least two others at Health City hospital, which was shut down for two weeks as a result.
The government has since banned all cruise ships for two months.
