The CDC is lowering the Covid risk for cruise travelers from ‘high’ to ‘moderate’ as the industry suffers from travel restrictions, reduced demand and hopes for a recovery.
- The CDC does not list cruise ships as having a “moderate” risk from Covid, not a “high” one.
- The CDC now recommends that everyone who goes on a cruise get full vaccinations and immunizations, up from previous orders that advised not to cruise.
- Cruise ships lost billions in revenue and were forced to lay off millions of workers when the industry was decimated by the pandemic in 2020.
- With US cases plummeting (down 96% from Omicron’s peak), there is hope that the industry can recover this year.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lowered the risk warning level for cruise travel, now issuing only a “moderate” warning.
The move comes as the number of Covid cases in the US continues to decline sharply, reaching some of the lowest levels since the start of the pandemic.
Cruise ships and other leisure and hospitality industries have been decimated during the pandemic as lockdowns and the public’s general fear of the virus have led to business closures during busy summer seasons.
Even before Covid, cruise ships have long been known as a hotbed of infectious diseases, leading many officials to believe they pose a particularly high risk during a pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has downgraded the cruise risk rating from “high” to “moderate” and is now simply recommending that only those who are not fully vaccinated and not revaccinated should not board ships. Pictured: A cruise ship passes Long Beach, California.
At a “moderate” risk level, the CDC continues to recommend that only people who are fully vaccinated against Covid and have received a booster be on a cruise.
At the end of last year, the agency moved from “very high” to “high” risk.
At a “high” risk level, the CDC has urged all Americans not to take cruises, believing they pose too much risk during an Omicron surge.
Since then, the surge has subsided, with cases dropping rapidly in recent weeks. America is currently averaging 31,108 cases per day, the lowest daily rate since last July and one of the lowest pandemic rates so far.
In the past seven days, cases have dropped by 21 percent, and since the peak of the Omicron variant in mid-January, by 96 percent.
The current rules issued by the CDC are much more relaxed ahead of this cruise season than they were last year.
In 2021, the CDC only allowed cruises to resume if at least 95 percent of passengers were confirmed to have been vaccinated.
Cruise ships could have avoided the vaccine requirement if they had a successful test flight to show officials they have the proper safety measures in place to deal with unvaccinated passengers.
The rules have sparked a protracted conflict between the agency, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and some major cruise ships, as the governor’s ban on vaccinations has made it harder for companies to get back to work.
The CDC has since lifted its strictest order to resume cruises, but until this week still warned against going to sea on overcrowded ships.
Cruise ships have been hit during the pandemic, causing billions in revenue to be lost and millions of workers out of work.
Even ships that were able to operate last summer had trouble selling tickets as people stayed at home for fear of the virus.
The surge caused by last summer’s Delta option didn’t help matters either, as just as the pandemic seemed to be receding into travel season, another surge began.
Even before the pandemic, the CDC had warned that cruise ships were often carriers of diseases like norovirus due to cramped and often unsanitary conditions at sea.