CDC says cruises, travel should be avoided amid COVID-19 surge

This week the CDC raised the risk level for cruise ship travel to a level 4, its highest risk level, regardless of vaccination status.

Amid the global surge in COVID-19 cases and the high transmissibility of the omicron variant, the CDC advises Americans to avoid travel, especially cruise ship travel, until further notice. The CDC website says, “The move “reflects increases in cases onboard cruise ships since identification of the Omicron variant.”

“Since the identification of the Omicron variant, there has been an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases among cruise passengers and crew reported to CDC. Additionally, there has been an increase in the number of cruise ships meeting the COVID-19 case threshold for CDC investigation,” the CDC website says.

As of December 30, the CDC reported 91 cruise ships had enough positive COVID cases onboard to warrant CDC investigation.

The Cruise Lines International Association issued a statement criticizing the CDC’s announcement, saying, “The decision by the CDC to raise the travel level for cruise is particularly perplexing considering that cases identified on cruise ships consistently make up a very slim minority of the total population onboard — far fewer than on land — and the majority of those cases are asymptomatic or mild in nature, posing little to no burden on medical resources onboard or onshore.”