27 individuals on board of a Carnival cruise tests COVID positive

The Belize Tourism Board said that over 27 positive patients have been discovered on a Carnival cruise line ship that departed from Galveston, Texas. It is the highest number of publicly reported cases on a ship sailing out of the US since the cruiseing started again this summer.

According to Belize tourism officials, 26 of the infected people are crew, and one is a guest. All are vaccinated and have either mild or no symptoms.

The ship continued sailing and arrived in Cozumel on Thursday.

In an email, Carnival spokesman Chris Chiames said crew members "remain in quarantine aboard."

He said the line had made several announcements to guests on the ship and had already announced that there were positive cases last week.

Following this release, the company set new mask rules for some members of all its ships effectively last weekend. T

The company also added a requirement that passengers - regardless of their vaccine status - must show proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of boarding, effective this coming Saturday.

In last week's statement from the Carnival said that the cruise line can "manage a small number of positive cases on board." The company did not say how many at the time, and did not answer the next question over the weekend. A statement from Carnival Thursday reiterated this language.

"Carnival Vista manages a small number of positive covid cases that appears on the cruise that returned to Galveston last Saturday, despite the entire crew and almost all of our guests being vaccinated," Ausso said.

"Some announcements have been made to guests on board to keep them updated."

The number of people with positive test results was not made public until Wednesday's news release from Belize. The statement said the ship had 2,895 passengers - 96.5 percent of whom were vaccinated - and 1,441 crew, of whom 99.98 percent were vaccinated.

Belize officials met with cruise operators virtually, a day priro to when the Carnival Vista arrived on the island.

"The team at the Carnival noted that all positive cases have been isolated and contact tracing has been stopped without finding any additional positive cases and that the infected crew and passengers pose no threat to guests, crew or frontline workers in Belize," the statement said.

Passengers were allowed to leave the ship in Belize on Wednesday, but those with negative tests were asked to show evidence, and those without were subjected to on arrival testing. The Tourism Board said passengers should not leave the ship if the number of positive cases exceeds 2 percent of the total number of passengers.

Carnival said in its statement that close contacts of those who tested positive were quarantined. All unvaccinated passengers who left the ship on Saturday were tested, according to company protocols, and none were positive.

The cruise line said it was randomly testing "a large percentage of our crew on a rotating basis several days a week - including more than 900 in the last seven days."

Carnival said it is in daily contact with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention about the status of all its ships and was cleared for sailing on Saturday.

The CDC did not publish information on the number of positive cases on cruise ships. On its website, the Covid-19 situation points to ships sailing from the US; the agency has given Carnival Vista a "yellow" status, which means that cases have been reported in the last seven days and the ship's threshold has reached an inquiry. The ship "remains under observation," the site said.

Covid will find his way to cruise. The critical thing is what happens next. Carnival requires passengers and crew on its ships to be vaccinated, although some passengers - including children too young for vaccination and those with medical problems - are allowed to request exceptions in advance.

It is required to sail with at least 95 percent of passengers vaccinated in accordance with CDC rules for how cruise lines can restart after the industry closed in March 2020.

Carnival Vista was the first ship to sail again for Carnival on July 3rd 2021.

In the Thursday morning announcements shared by the Carnival, the captain thanked everyone who was randomly tested in Belize. He said 68 passengers were tested and that all were negative.

"We are dedicated to your health and safety and appreciate your cooperation with all of our onboard procedures," he said.