A cruise ship boasting a “100 percent” vaccination status reported a “COVID-19 outbreak” before docking in San Francisco over the weekend
Princess Cruises confirmed a COVID-19 outbreak was reported on their ship, The Ruby Princess.
In addition to requiring passengers and crew to show proof of vaccination before boarding, the cruise line also required passengers to show a negative result to a recent COVID-19 test, according to The Epoch Times.
On Monday, in a statement to news outlets, Princess Cruises officials noted that passengers who tested positive were “isolated and quarantined while monitored and cared for by our shipboard medical team.” The statement did not indicate how many tested positive.
“They were all asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic,” the statement said. Some of the passengers who tested positive and did not finish their quarantine during the cruise “were provided with accommodations ashore to hotels coordinated in advance for isolation and quarantine,” the statement added.
In a report to the San Francisco Chronicle, cruise line officials said: “As with all Princess itineraries, this cruise is operated as a vaccinated cruise, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guests and crew vaccination rates were at 100 percent.”
Princess Cruises spokesperson Negin Kamali told USA Today that the Ruby Princess completed her 15-day cruise to Hawaii and docked in San Francisco on Sunday.
According to the Epoch Times report, the incident follows a March 18 announcement by the CDC noting new COVID-19 guidelines for the cruise industry. Warning levels for cruise travel were adjusted down to a ‘Level 2,’ or ‘moderate’ risk.”
Before the adjusted guidelines, the CDC assigned cruise lines a “Level 4” (highest level) warning, fearing the transmissibility of the newer Omicron.
The pandemic hit cruise lines particularly hard, reporting losses of approximately $63 billion in 2020 and 2021.
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