Miami – A crew member of the Celebrity Infinity cruise ship died on this Royal Caribbean cruise ship that is anchored in waters off the west coast of Florida after disembarking all its passengers in the past few days.
The Florida-based company confirmed the death to the Miami Herald without offering further details on the causes of death, according to the newspaper.
The publication also reviewed the evacuation of two other sick crew members from the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas, also from Royal Caribbean, which is anchored in Port Everglades, on the southeast coast of Florida, without passengers.
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These cases are added to crises of crew and passengers with flu symptoms and some with confirmed cases of the new coronavirus on cruises to Florida, including Rotterdam and Zaandam, the latter in which four elderly passengers died in their passage. through the waters of Panama.
Both ships, from the Holland America Line (HAL), began to disembark their passengers this Thursday, first a dozen critically ill, who were taken by ambulance to hospitals in South Florida, after a controversy with local authorities , who initially rejected the landing.
The two cruises, with more than 2,500 people on board, will continue the disembarkation of the other asymptomatic passengers on Friday, while the crew will be on board until further notice, as well as the passengers who present with flu symptoms.
According to the shipping company, 250 people, between passengers and crew, presented flu symptoms since last March 22.
Another ship approaching Port Everglades with at least a dozen confirmed COVID-19 cases is Coral Princess, from the Princess Cruises shipping company.
At least seven passengers and five crew members tested positive for samples sent to Barbados, confirmed the company, which has been the scene of the coronavirus crisis on board, which included the Diamond Princess, in Japan, and the Grand Princess, in California.
So far, local authorities have not ruled on the authorization given to this cruise ship, which plans to disembark this Saturday in that port in the city of Fort Lauderdale, about 40 kilometers north of Miami.
The two sick HAL ships sparked rejection by some local authorities and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis himself, because Florida has been badly affected by COVID-19.
The state, where at least 144 people have died and more than 9,600 are infected, has been subjected to mandatory confinement since Friday.
However, both the shipping company and authorities in Broward, the county where Port Everglades is located, agreed on a protocol for HAL ships in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, Miami Mayor Francis Suárez on Thursday asked President Donald Trump to immediately suspend international and domestic flights from critical points of COVID-19 to Miami International Airport.
“We are at war with a silent, deadly, and ruthless enemy,” Suarez wrote to President Trump.
“I have personally witnessed its speed, its spread and its mortality among my residents in Miami, and now in the state of Florida,” said Suárez, who was one of the first public officials to be infected and had to be quarantined, although is recovered.
