ASTA Comes Out Swinging Against the CDC

ASTA President says late CDC Level 4 warning is another “knee-jerk reactions singling out travel for discriminatory treatment.”

In a recent statement, ASTA President & CEO Zane Kerby did not hold back when discussing the CDC's latest warning again cruising. Calling the latest warning recommending cruise travel be avoided regardless of vaccination status is just the latest example of "knee-jerk reactions singling out travel for discriminatory treatment."

He also said, "An increase in reported COVID cases on cruise ships should surprise no one given the worldwide spike driven by the highly-transmissible omicron variant."

"The difference between enjoying a cruise vacation and visiting your local grocery store or restaurant, however, is the extraordinarily stringent anti-COVID measures put in place voluntarily by the cruise lines, in close consultation with the CDC."

Kerby added: "If the average cruise ship were a U.S. state, it would be the safest in the country – by far. According to Royal Caribbean Group, since cruising restarted in the U.S. in June 2021, its ships have carried 1.1 million guests, with 1,745 people testing positive – a positivity rate of 0.02 percent. Among U.S. states as of January 4, Alaska's positivity rate is the lowest at 9.4 percent, with Georgia's the highest at 38.7 percent."

The ASTA President finished by telling the CDC, “At this stage in the pandemic, the tools exist to allow us to combat this virus without crippling an entire sector of the U.S. economy in the process. Let’s use them.”