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CDC denies cruise sector's request to lift US sailing restrictions


mnocket
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4 hours ago, Gracie115 said:

She may well have not been on a cruise but I think that an agency that has control over whether multi-million dollar corporations should at least have an idea of that control.  She did not.   Huge companies and also the impact on thousands of Americans who depend on those companies for their livelihoods...seems to me she should have been aware.  

 

At least she is now and hopefully will get up to speed on the issue. 

If you are going to flame somebody please have the decency to check the person out before doing so. I did and she has impeccable credentials in medicine, especially when it comes to infectious diseases. She is highly educated and I think it would be hard to find someone who is more qualified. She has dedicated her life to medicine. I'm sure she knew exactly what she was getting into or she wouldn't have taken the job.  Or you could go with some weak willed person who would fold under pressure and cave in to it. That's what you are looking for, not someone who believes public health and safety trumps all.

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We live in strange times when people find an organization whose main purpose is lobbying FOR the cruise industry (not necessarily FOR the best interests of their passengers) to be more trustworthy than an organization that has long used its scientific expertise to "help people throughout the world live healthier, safer, longer lives."

 

It's strange -- this is the same CDC that received so much praise for their intensive work during the Ebola virus outbreak. As a reminder of CDC's role (which some seem to question now), they provided significant assistance in "assisting neighboring countries with their own border health security efforts to help prevent the spread of Ebola internationally, and continuing to implement routine border health security measures at U.S. ports of entry."

 

But, I guess Ebola wasn't standing between people and their vacations. 🙄

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Royal Caribbean is now getting slammed for their requirement for vaccinations for there Caribbean departures

 

Royal Caribbean says boycott of the cruise line after it announced fully vaccinated cruises is based on a 'misconception'

 

https://news.yahoo.com/royal-caribbean-says-boycott-cruise-120700142.html

 

Damned if you do damned if you don't.  

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22 minutes ago, nocl said:

Royal Caribbean is now getting slammed for their requirement for vaccinations for there Caribbean departures

 

Royal Caribbean says boycott of the cruise line after it announced fully vaccinated cruises is based on a 'misconception'

 

https://news.yahoo.com/royal-caribbean-says-boycott-cruise-120700142.html

 

Damned if you do damned if you don't.  

 

I love how they quote only tweets/posts against the requirement for vaccinations to cruise despite the fact that numerous surveys by individual cruise lines and on CC have shown very high support (85-90%) FOR mandatory vaccination. Nice, even-handed reporting...

 

 

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3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I love how they quote only tweets/posts against the requirement for vaccinations to cruise despite the fact that numerous surveys by individual cruise lines and on CC have shown very high support (85-90%) FOR mandatory vaccination. Nice, even-handed reporting...

 

 

Well it is an article about the response being serious enough that Royal Caribbean felt they had to comment.

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7 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Considering that cruise lines were HUGE news articles during the early pandemic days, there is no way in the world she was not aware of this.  Whether she knew the exact specifics of the current situation at the time of her taking control is one thing. But I agree 100% that she definitely should have been more aware of what was going on with the industry.  People need to remember, she is not sitting up in the head chair running things alone.  There are dozens (if not hundreds) of staff members managed by her (or through her teams).  I find it hard to believe not a one of them brought this up as a topic!  If she really and truly was not aware after all the massive publicity cruise lines got in the beginning, then heaven help us all.  

 

Talk about a lack of perspective. Cruising is a non essential activity undertaken by at most 30 million people world wide each year. The CDC is conentrated on keeping 330 million Americans as healthy as possible during the pandemic. Why would the CDC director waste time worrying about what is essentially a trivial aspect of the pandemic?

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4 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

Talk about a lack of perspective. Cruising is a non essential activity undertaken by at most 30 million people world wide each year. The CDC is conentrated on keeping 330 million Americans as healthy as possible during the pandemic. Why would the CDC director waste time worrying about what is essentially a trivial aspect of the pandemic?

well said broberts, very well said!!  I love to cruise, but yes def SO non essential, we can afford this luxury but people focus on thinking (non-sensical) that the CDC Director needs to keep this LUXURY at the forefront of their minds, if it was not so ridiculous, it would be laughable.

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10 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

If you are going to flame somebody please have the decency to check the person out before doing so. I did and she has impeccable credentials in medicine, especially when it comes to infectious diseases. She is highly educated and I think it would be hard to find someone who is more qualified. She has dedicated her life to medicine. I'm sure she knew exactly what she was getting into or she wouldn't have taken the job.  Or you could go with some weak willed person who would fold under pressure and cave in to it. That's what you are looking for, not someone who believes public health and safety trumps all.

 

I watched the questioning between the Alaska Congresswoman and the CDC Director.  She hemmed and hawed at every question, clearly unsure of how to answer.  I did not flame her credentials in any way, I take issue with her lack of knowledge of this issue.  

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4 hours ago, broberts said:

 

Talk about a lack of perspective. Cruising is a non essential activity undertaken by at most 30 million people world wide each year. The CDC is conentrated on keeping 330 million Americans as healthy as possible during the pandemic. Why would the CDC director waste time worrying about what is essentially a trivial aspect of the pandemic?

 

Oh, I don't know maybe because that same "trivial" business employs thousands of Americans nearly all of whom have no work right now.  

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32 minutes ago, Gracie115 said:

 

Oh, I don't know maybe because that same "trivial" business employs thousands of Americans nearly all of whom have no work right now.  

 

"Thousands of Americans" is not that much in the grand scheme of things.  Here in Florida there are plenty of "Help Wanted" signs throughout the state....🙄

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4 minutes ago, cluso said:

 

"Thousands of Americans" is not that much in the grand scheme of things.  Here in Florida there are plenty of "Help Wanted" signs throughout the state....🙄

True.

 

I think Alaskan cruise related small business is much more impacted than Florida's.  

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3 hours ago, jagoffee said:

...

 Name five industries in the US that are totally shut down across all states. (Besides cruising)

 

The cruise industry directly employs less than 200,000 people in the US. Some states have more than that in hospitality and entertainment out of work because of shutdowns and restrictions. 

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Has anyone actually posted a quote or statement released from the CDC that contains this ‘denial’? 
 

We’ve known cruising would return in a slow but phased approach. What are we seeing now? A slow, phased approach. Hrm. It just doesn’t include US ports yet. It will happen and we can stop the meltdowns and conspiracy theories soon enough. 

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4 hours ago, jagoffee said:

For all you knowledgeable people who do a lot more research than others:

 Name five industries in the US that are totally shut down across all states. (Besides cruising)

JMO...but....if you can find any industries which would be totally shut down, I'd ask if ALL employees etc would be in lockdown for as long as it takes, within the building (or on a cruise ship in this case, stranded at sea) until safe to come out?

Edited by Oceangoer2
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7 minutes ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

Has anyone actually posted a quote or statement released from the CDC that contains this ‘denial’? 
 

We’ve known cruising would return in a slow but phased approach. What are we seeing now? A slow, phased approach. Hrm. It just doesn’t include US ports yet. It will happen and we can stop the meltdowns and conspiracy theories soon enough. 

 

There isn't one. It's a reply to a press inquiry sent in at approximately the same time CLIA released their statement announcing they want the CDC to lift restrictions. There's actually no real request either, just a press statement.

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53 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

The cruise industry directly employs less than 200,000 people in the US. Some states have more than that in hospitality and entertainment out of work because of shutdowns and restrictions. 

 

I manage a resort in Florida and have friends in the business in many other states.  YES, the industry was and is significantly hurt by the pandemic, but is recovering now, especially in states that haven't shut everything down.  Hotel occupancies are way up from a year ago.  So the industry is getting better.  Those 200,000 cruise related employees are still in limbo with no work.

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Looks like CDC getting ready on the employee vaccination front. Remember vaccines are to be available for anyone who wants one by May 1 (based on recent Biden speach)... GA has been offering it to anyone for about a week now. In Ga you need to show drivers license, not sure of residency requirement in Florida. But for CDC to be putting out this guidance suggests a certain level of confidence in vaccine supply. issued March 25. Now the question is... who do they consider an essential employee... from the cruiseline perspective it would be anyone onboard a ship that will have contact with passengers and other crew.  Quick look appears they could be in 1c.. which should be covered by early May... if supply holds up. If demand lags there should be supply for groups like this. The other option is to vaccinate them in their new home ports... assuming they arrive with neg test results. Things are moving quickly now that we have multiple options for vaccination.. The one shot refrigerated J&J vaccine makes it easier to distribute an no need to track whether a patient has had both shots... real game changer.

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4 minutes ago, kearney said:

Looks like CDC getting ready on the employee vaccination front. Remember vaccines are to be available for anyone who wants one by May 1 (based on recent Biden speach)... GA has been offering it to anyone for about a week now. In Ga you need to show drivers license, not sure of residency requirement in Florida. But for CDC to be putting out this guidance suggests a certain level of confidence in vaccine supply. issued March 25. Now the question is... who do they consider an essential employee... from the cruiseline perspective it would be anyone onboard a ship that will have contact with passengers and other crew.  Quick look appears they could be in 1c.. which should be covered by early May... if supply holds up. If demand lags there should be supply for groups like this. The other option is to vaccinate them in their new home ports... assuming they arrive with neg test results. Things are moving quickly now that we have multiple options for vaccination.. The one shot refrigerated J&J vaccine makes it easier to distribute an no need to track whether a patient has had both shots... real game changer.

Does an applicable employee under this CDC ruling have to work for a US-based company or can it be an international company with offices in the US? After all, there are a lot of international companies, not just the cruise lines, with offices in the US.

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7 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Does an applicable employee under this CDC ruling have to work for a US-based company or can it be an international company with offices in the US? After all, there are a lot of international companies, not just the cruise lines, with offices in the US.

 

This has been there for awhile. It's been updated/certified current as of March 25, but it's almost impossible to tell what's changed.

 

As they say, the CDC makes recommendations; the states, territories, tribes, and other government agencies implement based on their own priorities. If a state chooses to consider non-resident employees of international companies essential, unless there's something in the appropriation paying for the vaccine that says "no", then they could vaccinate them. But most of those employees of other international companies have some form of visa allowing them to work in the US...

 

When I saw this before, I viewed it as guidance on how and employer 'could' implement an employer-based vaccine program (it's pretty much what the local school districts did; they contracted with one of the larger health care providers to run the vaccine clinics), not how the 'must' run a program.

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17 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

If you are going to flame somebody please have the decency to check the person out before doing so. I did and she has impeccable credentials in medicine, especially when it comes to infectious diseases. She is highly educated and I think it would be hard to find someone who is more qualified. She has dedicated her life to medicine. I'm sure she knew exactly what she was getting into or she wouldn't have taken the job.  Or you could go with some weak willed person who would fold under pressure and cave in to it. That's what you are looking for, not someone who believes public health and safety trumps all.

Thank you grandgeezer very well said.  Here is an article she published on the success factors and effectiveness of COVID vaccines when she was still at Mass General Hospital.  I am happy to have such a distinguished individual leading the CDC in these current times.  It seems that some here have a very narrow perspective based on her perceptions on the cruise industry only.  Which nobody really knows at this point yet.   But yeah we are on Cruise Critic.

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/mgh-cve111920.php

Edited by TeeRick
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36 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Thank you grandgeezer very well said.  Here is an article she published on the success factors and effectiveness of COVID vaccines when she was still at Mass General Hospital.  I am happy to have such a distinguished individual leading the CDC in these current times.  It seems that some here have a very narrow perspective based on her perceptions on the cruise industry only.  Which nobody really knows at this point yet.   But yeah we are on Cruise Critic.

 

https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-11/mgh-cve111920.php

 

And as I said to grandgeezer I did not flame her or any of her credentials. I actually watched the questioning between the Alaska Congresswoman and the CDC Director.  I take issue with her lack of knowledge of this issue.  That has nothing to do with how qualified she may be for the post.

Edited by Gracie115
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59 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Does an applicable employee under this CDC ruling have to work for a US-based company or can it be an international company with offices in the US? After all, there are a lot of international companies, not just the cruise lines, with offices in the US.

I don't know... but I can't imagine they would not allow non residents to get vaccinated...the issue might be who pays for it. I worked for a company with a number of non US citizens who worked in the US... not sure how a company is protected if some are walking around unvaccinated simply because of where they are from... however, since the US government has been paying for it.. I can see them requiring that it be paid for by someone other than the US government... a few minutes ago I heard that NY is opening vaccinating to anyone over 16 beginning next week... so further evidence that supplies are opening up.

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