The “Carnival Sunrise” (L) and “Carnival Vista” (R) cruises, part of the Carnival Cruise Line, are moored at a pier in the port of Miami, Florida, on December 23, 2020, amid the pandemic of Miami. coronavirus.
Daniel Slim | AFP | Getty Images
A 77-year-old woman has died from COVID-19 after testing positive while sailing on a Carnival cruise in Belize, marking the first reported death since cruises to the Caribbean and the United States resumed in June.
The Carnival Vista cruise departing from Galveston, Texas, reported that 27 people tested positive for two weeks in late July and early August, the highest number of cases since cruises began sailing again.
NBC News was working to confirm the identity of the woman, who died Aug. 14. The New York Times reported that she was a great-grandmother from Oklahoma.
The woman left for Carnival Vista with her family on July 31 and tested positive for COVID-19 after experiencing respiratory complications, the Times reported. She was admitted to a Belize hospital and put on a ventilator before being evacuated to Tulsa, Oklahoma, and receiving treatment.
The burst of 27 cases aboard the ship was discovered on the fourth day of an eight-day cruise, shortly before the ship docked in Belize. Twenty-six of those who tested positive were crew members and the other was a passenger.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a law banning companies from requiring vaccination tests, but more than 96 percent of passengers and all but one crew member aboard Carnival Vista were fully vaccinated. according to the Belize Tourism Board. It was unclear whether the woman who died was vaccinated or not.
“We are sorry to hear of the death of a guest who sailed to Carnival Vista,” Carnival said in a statement. “Unfortunately, there is a fair amount of misinformation about the circumstances of this issue.
“The guest almost certainly did not hire COVID on our ship and received expert medical assistance on board and was evacuated from Belize after providing a resource to her family. We have continued to support her family and will not add to the his sadness commenting more “.
Carnival has updated its vaccination policy so that, starting on Saturday, most guests will need to be vaccinated and must also present the negative results of a COVID-19 test performed within three days before to embark on a ship. Carnival also implemented a mask warrant on August 7 for all passengers from inland areas.
“We’ve always required vaccinations. Since the restart in July, 95% of guests have been vaccinated. We meet the definition of a vaccinated cruise,” a Carnival spokesman on NBC News’s Kerry Sanders said Tuesday. “And we added the testing requirement on July 28 (August 28) is when the new guidelines for the Bahamas come into force.”
As the most contagious Delta variant of the virus continues to spread, on August 20 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated guidelines that reported that travelers at higher risk of serious illness should avoid cruising. regardless of vaccination status.