Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who advised cruise lines on Covid protocols, told CNBC on Friday that he believes a safe environment can be created for ships.
Gottlieb’s comments came a day after Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, demanding that the public health agency of cruise ships could resume navigation immediately from U.S. ports.
Gottlieb, who co-chaired an advisory board for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and Royal Caribbean, told Squawk Box that companies have prudent policies in place for when they are allowed to start operations after a long Covid break. more than a year.
“They have committed to things like mandatory passenger testing. Norwegian Cruise Line came out recently saying they will require vaccination of all their passengers,” said Gottlieb, who served as commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration. drugs from 2017 to 2019 Trump Administration.
Gottlieb also noted that social distancing would be possible on ships, saying “these cruises will not operate at full capacity.”
“As you begin to implement all of these public health recommendations … you begin to create an environment that can be fairly safe,” he stated. “I think you can create a safe bubble around this experience, especially when you compare it to other holiday experiences where you can’t control the environment,” he added.
Cruise ships were hot spots for Covid outbreaks last year in the early days of the global health crisis, prompting CDC to issue its no-sail order in mid-March 2020. the CDC has published some guidelines for cruise lines under their conditional navigation. in order, the agency has not yet specified a date for operators to resume shipping from U.S. ports.
In response to a request from CNBC for comments on Gottlieb’s remarks, the CDC said in an email that it “is committed to working with the cruise industry and seaport partners to resume the cruise following the approach by “This goal is in line with the desire to resume passenger operations in the United States expressed by many major cruise operators and passengers, hopefully by mid-summer.”
However, the cruise industry is becoming impatient, after companies raised billions in debt and issued new shares to fund operations as shipping revenues ran out. Late last month, a trade group asked the CDC to allow a gradual restart in early July. Operators have said they see strong demand for bookings, suggesting people are starting to feel comfortable returning to cruises.
In a CNBC interview Wednesday, Carnival CEO Arnold Donald noted the differences between restrictions in America and other countries around the world, where cruises have resumed in some places.
“A person today can fly from the United States to another country. He gets on a cruise ship and returns to the United States, whether vaccinated or not,” Donald told Closing Bell. “But here in the United States, even if you’re vaccinated, you couldn’t get on a cruise right now.”
Donald congratulated the Biden administration for its work on the distribution of the Covid vaccine in the US, where approximately 20% of the population is fully vaccinated. He said he believes the cruise industry and CDC will be able to reach an agreement on sailing together.
“The administration has come a long way in vaccinations and in gaining control of this thing,” Donald said. “We’re confident we can work together and come up with something that is a viable solution and we hope we still have navigation from the United States this summer.”
Royal Caribbean CEO Richard Fain told CBS This Morning on Thursday that he would like the cruise industry to be “treated very similarly to airlines”, which have been allowed to fly. Still, Fain is optimistic about the possible resumption of U.S. crossings during the second half of this year, citing President Joe Biden’s goal for society to return to normalcy on July 4th.
– CNBC’s Katie Tsai contributed to this report.
Outreach: Scott Gottlieb is a CNBC contributor and board member of Pfizer, Tempus genetic testing start-up, healthcare technology company Aetion Inc. and the biotechnology company Illumina. He is also co-chair of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and the Royal Caribbean Healthy Sail Panel.