US Appeals Court Lifts CDC Cruise Ship Restrictions in Florida

The cruise landscape in Florida is ever-changing.

On July 23, a federal appeals court lifted coronavirus pandemic restrictions the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) put on Florida-based cruise ships.

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Just last week a panel of judges in the 11th U.S. Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the CDC.

Florida appealed that decision. “The equities overwhelmingly favor allowing the cruise industry to enjoy its first summer season in two years while this Court sorts out the CDC’s contentions on appeal,” Florida’s lawyers argued, according to the Associated Press.

That led to a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to explain that the CDC "failed to demonstrate an entitlement to a stay pending appeal," according to Reuters.

The CDC said that all cruise ships in Florida will still be required to report "individual cases of illness or death and ship inspections and sanitary measures to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of communicable diseases."