On Thursday, Royal Caribbean announced that two guests aboard one of their ships tested positive for Covid.
Luckily, the guests on the Celebrity Millennium ship were sharing a room, are asymptomatic, have been put in isolation, and are being monitored by a medical team.
Royal Caribbean also assured that it was conducting contact tracing, and expediting testing for all close contacts of the individuals.
Last week, after more than a year of a shutdown of the cruise industry, Celebrity Millennium was one of the first cruises in North America to set sail.
As cruise ships were central to a few of the earliest virus breakout stories of the pandemic, there’s a lingering fear about the idea of cruises pulling up anchors just yet. The industry as a whole seems to be aware, as it has been among the last industries to return to their pre-pandemic operations.
The Centers for Disease Control laid out strict guidance earlier this year for the cruise industry for resuming trips. And as Today reports, Royal Caribbean started sailing this month, after meeting the CDC and Prevention's comprehensive guidelines that included a fully vaccinated crew and everyone over 16 presenting proof of vaccination against COVID-19.
The sails are continuing to unfurl. In February, Royal Caribbean announced trips for next year. And earlier this week, a “Friends”-themed cruise was announced.
Ahoy, mateys! Wear those masks.
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