A pair of Democratic Senators have sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control, appealing to the agency to reinstate its 'no sail order' that would prohibit cruises from sailing in U.S. waters during a current surge in COVID-19.
The no-sail order expired on Oct. 31 and the CDC instituted a 'Conditional Sailing Order' that allowed cruise lines to return to the seas under a phased plan.
But with a near-national uptick in coronavirus cases, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) and Doris Matsui (Calif.) told CDC Director Robert Redfield in a letter that cruising "is simply unsafe during a global pandemic" that has already killed 243,000 Americans, according to a story in USA Today.
"The CDC is putting American lives at risk, not to mention the potential for enhancing the spread worldwide," Blumenthal told the newspaper on Friday. "...We'll see massive outbreaks on cruise ships, which will become floating hot spots with major casualties and potential to spread this disease all around the world (if sailing restarts). The CDC should enforce its 'no-sail' policy, which certainly should not be suspended in the midst of a raging second surge that we're seeing right now."
The letter came in the wake of a cluster of COVID-19 cases aboard the SeaDream Yacht Club's SeaDream I, during its first Caribbean voyage since the outbreak in April. The ship is currently docked in Barbados.
While acknowledging that the CDC's conditional sail order included some big hurdles for cruise lines to overcome before hitting the water again, the Senators pointed out that even the testing, face masks and social distancing weren't enough to prevent seven positive cases on the SeaDream.
"In light of these disturbing reports, we feel strongly that you should reverse course on the recent decision by the (CDC) to take a phased approach to restarting cruise line operations in the United States," Blumenthal and Matsui wrote. "Instead, we implore you to extend the prior no-sail order until a time when the health and safety of passengers and crew can be assured."
According to numerous reports, the CDC last month was set to extend the no-sail order through February of 2021 but was allegedly overruled by the White House and accepted the compromise of the Oct. 31 date and the conditional sail order.
As a result, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chairs the House subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, has made an official request for records from the CDC to look into whether President Donald Trump's administration intervened.
Blumenthal and Matsui requested a response from Redfield no later than Nov. 27.
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