The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has discontinued a program that tracked cases of COVID-19 aboard cruise ships in the U.S. and reported the findings to the public. The initiative, called the COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships, ended Monday, according to the government agency.”CDC will continue to publish guidance to help cruise ships continue to provide a safer and healthier environment for passengers, crew and communities going forward,” the agency said on its website.
For two years, the CDC actively monitored COVID-19 outbreaks on cruise ships, using a color-coded chart to show different levels of transmission. Cruise lines that opted into the program agreed to follow all of the agency’s recommendations and guidance. Some of the earliest COVID-19 outbreaks took place on cruise ships, where cases spread rapidly among passengers confined to the vessels. Cruise lines were also among the most severely affected businesses during the pandemic, especially before vaccines existed, when social distancing was the main measure used to contain the virus.
The number of people booking cruises plummeted over the past two years. In 2020 and 2021, cruise companies lost a collective $63 billion and shed thousands of jobs, according to industry data. Individual decision The cruise industry has since ramped up their operations despite the ongoing risks of COVID-19, and the CDC will continue to publish cruise-specific guidance on how to best mitigate the risks of spreading the disease while at sea.The decision to wind dow …