The Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has apparently been overruled and the No-Sail order extended through October 2020. The final decision is set to be made on Friday.
Update On CDC No Sail Order
New developments are being reported by Axios that the Centers for Disease Control No-Sail order is to be extended through October 2020. However, there have been issues behind the scenes between Robert Redfield who is the Director for the CDC, and the White House Situation Room.
The site reports that Redfield was actually overruled as he wanted the No-Sail order to remain in place into 2021. That would be a devastating decision for the cruise industry that has already been on hold since March 2020. It would not only damage the cruise lines even further but have a huge knock-on effect on jobs and the businesses that back the industry up.
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This was apparently confirmed from two sources with direct knowledge of the conversation between the two parties. There are of course to sides to the story as the CDC is purely focused on keeping people safe and healthy from viruses and not so much on the economic impact.
Politics does come into play here even though that has been denied by officials. Florida is a huge importance for votes for the upcoming Presidential Election. Right now, Florida is suffering as the cruise industry is a huge importance to the state with major cruise ports such as PortMiami and Port Canaveral. Cruise Hive previously reported that in August 2020, Florida lost 3.2 billion dollars due to the suspension of cruise operations.
Related: Just Days to Go! Could the CDC No Sail Order Be Lifted?
As the Trump administration’s focus is on the economy, the CDC director’s decision was overruled and it was apparently favored for the No-Sail Order to be extended through October 31, 2020, to be in-line with the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) voluntary suspension.
A final decision by the White House is set to take place on Friday when cruise industry leaders are set to meet with the Trump administration to discuss the ways they will keep guests and crew safe and implement a safe return of cruises.
In November, cruise lines could then be able to resume operations but with strict new health measures in place just like what’s already happening in Europe with Costa Cruises, MSC Cruises, Aida Cruises, and TUI Cruises. When operations do resume they will likely be with one ship to test the waters and not at full capacity.
Of course, nothing has yet been officially announced and the current No-Sail order is set to end tomorrow. There is hope it will not be extended and cruise lines can resume earlier than expected.