Two cases of COVID-19 on one of the first cruises since the pandemic

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line said in a statement that two people tested positive for COVID-19 Thursday aboard the Celebrity Millennium, one of the first cruise ships to sail in North America since the start of the pandemic, despite the “crew and passengers being vaccinated.”

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“The individuals are asymptomatic, they are currently in isolation and are being monitored by our medical team,” said the company, which ensures it is conducting a contact tracing and whose vessel Sint Maarten, the Dutch part of the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, left on June 5. .

The two people tested positive during the “mandatory end-of-flight test,” says Royal Caribbean, which says passengers must show evidence of vaccination in addition to a negative COVID-19 test 72 hours before boarding.

The company claims to have followed complete protocols in line with its partner destinations and “goed beyond” the main US Public Health Agency’s guidance, “to protect the health and safety of its passengers,” the 600 passengers and 650 accompanying crew members, depending on the The New York Times.

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) in early May issued new rules to allow cruise passengers to return to sea under strict conditions: that 95% of people on cruise ships, passengers and staff, be vaccinated.

Departing from Sint Maarten, the Celebrity Millennium was to complete a seven-day trip through Barbados, Aruba, and Curaçao.