by Tom Drake
Mainstream media chooses to leave low positivity rate out of coverage.
The latest issue of Fortune ran this headline, "Cruise ship companies are defying the CDC's warning and doing business as usual." Fair? Truthful? Probably not. The CDC's warning was not to the cruise industry; it was a warning to their customers who are choosing to ignore the warning below in great numbers.
Customers are ignoring this warning, “The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters onboard ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose,” an agency advisory read.
Customers are ignoring this warning because they know the positivity rate is stunningly low compared to the rate in their home state. They are ignoring the warning because they know cruise lines have instituted mask mandates and testing protocols, and they also have installed state of the art air filtration systems and prepared their medical centers for any emergencies.
The truth is cruisers feel safer on a cruise ship than just about anywhere except in their own home.
The Cruise Lines International Association, a group that is supposed to be pushing back against the CDC and click bait media issued the following statement, “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 on board,” it said.
Frankly, that rather mild statement is perplexing.
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