Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) is still putting ships to sea, loaded with hundreds of passengers. Since cruise ships have become one of the major causes of the spread of COVID-19, has Carnival done enough? Probably not.
Carnival would clearly make two arguments. The first is that it is taking all the advice from the CDC, WHO and the Cruise Lines International Association to monitor passengers and enhance ship cleaning standards and the standards at ports. It is also screening destinations for the illness. It is giving tips for healthy travel. However, it is also allowing ships to leave port with the knowledge that people may have contracted the disease and may not show symptoms for days.
Carnival’s second argument is that if it cancels all cruises, it would quickly run into extremely serious financial problems.
In a growing number of cases, people who do not know they are ill do go to public places. Also, in a growing number of cases, these people have infected others. There is no effective way, yet, to screen for these human carriers. That means some of them could make it aboard very crowded ships.
Cruise ships are already one of the major sources of the spread of COVID-19. The cruise ship environment has increased the number of passengers who carry the disease and interact in a small area.
Is Carnival doing all that it can to prevent the spread of COVID-19? It is still putting ships to sea knowing full well that there is a chance people aboard could be infected but have not shown symptoms yet. That is well short of “everything.”
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