‘Everything was so confusing’: 44 people test positive for COVID on Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas ship
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In the email to the passengers who sailed on the three cruises on Symphony of the Seas, Royal Caribbean outlined what happened.
“This guest did not report symptoms to our onboard medical teams as outlined in our health protocols,” the cruise line said in a copy of the email obtained by USA TODAY. “Their post cruise test results were subsequently confirmed as the omicron variant.”
The 44 cases on the recently disembarked cruise “were found as a result of immediately identifying close contacts after a guest tested positive,” Sierra-Caro said, noting each person was quarantined quickly. “Everyone who tested positive is asymptomatic, and we continually monitored their health. Six guests were disembarked earlier in the cruise and transported home. The remaining guests received assistance today upon our arrival.”
In the email to passengers, Royal Caribbean said that the cases on the Dec. 11th sailing were “unrelated to the omicron case from the guest who sailed on Dec. 4th.”
It is not immediately clear why the cases were unrelated.
The cruise line advised that passengers visit a certified testing center three to five days after disembarkation, per CDC guidance.
On Saturday, the CDC said in a statement that the agency was aware of the situation on Symphony of the Seas and that it was “working with RCI to gather more information about the cases and possible exposures, and RCI will be collecting specimens from the current voyage for genetic sequencing.”
On the CDC’s cruise ship color status list, Symphony of the Seas is “Yellow” ,indicating that the “CDC has investigated and ship remains under observation,” according to the agency.
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Passengers say Royal Caribbean was overwhelmed
Connor O’Dell, 29, from Orlando, Florida, was traveling with a party of 12 on the Symphony of the Seas sailing that wrapped up Saturday. Six of his traveling companions tested positive for COVID. Everyone in their group was fully vaccinated and most had had a booster shot, O’Dell said.