CDC lowers cruise ship COVID-19 travel warning
The agency uses travel health notices to alert travelers to health threats
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revised its COVID-19 Travel Health Notice for cruise ships, lowering its alert from "very high" to "high."
The Cruise Lines International Association on Tuesday called the move a "step in the right direction" that "recognizes the leadership and effectiveness of the cruise sector’s health and safety protocols that are unmatched by virtually any other commercial setting."
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"Cruise ships have medical, isolation and quarantine facilities on site, implement extensive response plans using private shoreside resources, and have created an environment where almost every single person is fully vaccinated," the group wrote. "As a result, cases of COVID-19 are very low with the vast majority mild or asymptomatic—making cruise unequaled in its multi-layered approach to effectively mitigating COVID-19."
The agency uses travel health notices to alert travelers to health threats.
August 18: A pedestrian watches as the Crystal Symphony cruise ship arrives at Flynn Cruiseport in Boston, MA on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
In 2020, it adapted the three-level notice system to a four-level system amid the COVID-19 pandemic and updated criteria to determine the levels.
The four-level system categorizes international destinations into Levels 1 through 4, with Level 1 being a "low level" of COVID-19, Level 2 listed as "moderate, Level 3 defined as "high" and Level 4 marked as "very high."
A place that is Level 4 includes more than 500 new COVID-19 cases over the past 28 days per 100,000 population.
Level 1 is shown as fewer than 50 new cases over the same timeframe.
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People who go to places with a high level of COVID-19 should make sure they are fully vaccinated before travel and those who are not vaccinated should avoid nonessential travel there.
Comparatively, the CDC advises everyone – regardless of vaccination status – to avoid travel to places that are listed as Level 4.
In December, the CDC raised its travel health notice for the cruise industry to the highest level, telling Americans to "avoid cruise travel, regardless of vaccination status."
CDC designates cruise traveling as Level 4 health alert
FOX Business' Ashley Webster speaks with Canaveral Port Authority CEO Captain John Murray regarding the CDC's warning to Americans looking to travel via cruise ship.
"The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose," the CDC wrote in an advisory.
Last week, the CDC released new guidance for cruise travel and said that cruise ships operating in U.S. waters either choose to participate in the CDC's COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships – which requires participating cruise lines to report the vaccination status classification for each ship – or be designated as "Gray" on the agency's Cruise Ship Color Status webpage.
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"Gray" means that the CDC has neither reviewed nor confirmed the cruise ship operator’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols.
Cruise lines that plan to join the program have until Feb. 18 to notify the Maritime Unit regarding their decision.
FOX Business' Paul Best contributed to this report.