End to COVID Cruise Program, CDC Shares Suggested Guidance for Ships

After the recent announcement of the official end to the COVID cruise program, the CDC shared new suggested guidance for cruise ship operators. 

These revised measures offer suggestions to cruise lines on the mitigation and management of COVID-19 on cruise ships. The cruise operators can now review these guidelines and determine the appropriate health and safety measures for their ships and passenger screening protocols. The guidance in its entirety can be found on the CDC’s website here.

Newly Revised CDC Guidance Includes

Covid Response Programs - Onboard & Shoreside 

Onboard Program: Cruise ships should develop and maintain COVID-19 response plans to prevent and mitigate the introduction and onboard transmission of COVID-19. 

Shoreside Response Programs: Cruise ships should develop and maintain shoreside response plans to prevent and mitigate the introduction of COVID-19 to port communities. When developing their response plans, cruise ship operators should coordinate with the U.S. port authorities where the cruise ship operator intends to conduct passenger voyages and all health departments exercising jurisdiction over those ports.

Vaccines

Guidance from the CDC reads the following regarding vaccines: CDC recommends all eligible travelers be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccines. In addition to the protection COVID-19 vaccines provide to individual travelers in preventing severe illness or death from COVID-19, having a high proportion of travelers on board who are up to date with COVID-19 vaccines reduces the likelihood that cruise ships’ medical centers are overwhelmed by cases of COVID-19.

Embarkation Process

Health Screening: Cruise ship operators should screen passengers for signs or symptoms of COVID-19, known close contact exposure to a person with COVID-19 within the 10 days before embarkation, or a positive COVID-19 viral test within the 10 days before embarkation.

Pre-Embarkation Testing: To reduce the likelihood of onboard transmission, cruise ship operators should consider requiring travelers to get tested for current infection with a viral test as close to the time of departure as possible (no more than 3 days before travel) and present their negative test result before boarding. Testing within 1 day of embarkation is highly recommended. Cruise ship operators may also consider conducting embarkation testing for all or a subset of passengers.

Other General Preventative Measure Suggestions

• Inform passengers of any mandatory cruise line-specific public health measures prior to boarding.
• Incorporate COVID-19 vaccination strategies to protect passengers and crew in the maritime environment, seaports, and land-based communities.
• Ensure crew remains up to date with their vaccines. 
• Recommend passengers aged 2 years or older wear a mask in indoor settings, especially when crowded.
• Consider instructing crew members to properly wear a mask outside of individual cabins.
• Consider strategies to improve ventilation of indoor areas and maximize the use of outdoor spaces.
• Implement physical distancing to avoid crowding of crew members when working or moving through the ship.
• Reduce face-to-face interactions between crew and passengers to the extent practicable.
• Consider strategies to reduce crowding in all venues and where travelers wait in line.
• Modify meal service to facilitate physical distancing.
• Promote respiratory, hand hygiene, and cough etiquette.
• Make hand sanitizer available to passengers, crew, and port personnel throughout the ship and terminal.
• Clean/disinfect frequently touched surfaces regularly.

The CDC’s guidance also covers several items for crew safety measures, medical care facilities, COVID surveillance, procedures for symptomatic travelers, isolation/quarantining protocol, infection prevention, and more. Read more on these from the CDC at: https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/cruise/covid-19-cruise-ship-guidance.html. 

We anticipate cruise lines to release updates in the coming days in response to the CDC guidance. Please visit CDC Ends COVID Cruise Protocol to follow updated cruise line protocol.

This is a breaking news story. We will provide additional details as they become available. 

Related Articles:

Several Cruise Lines to Eliminate Pre-Cruise COVID Testing