48 Aboard Cruise Ship Docked in Miami Test Positive for Coronavirus

Forty-eight guests and crew aboard a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked at Port Miami recently tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the cruise line.

“The Symphony of the Seas docked at PortMiami on Saturday with the confirmed cases out of 6.091 people on board the vessel, according to a statement issued Sunday,” WSVN reported.

A spokesperson noted the ship set sail on December 11 “with 95% of the onboard community fully vaccinated, and 98% of those that tested positive were fully vaccinated.”

Officials explained the people who tested positive “quickly went into quarantine” and they “were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms, and we continuously monitored their health.”

Meanwhile, officials also indicated that four of the confirmed cases “includes four additional close contacts that were identified as COVID-19 positive at the end of the voyage.”

The statement added that six of the individuals who tested positive for the illness “disembarked earlier in the cruise and were transported home.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said the agency knew about the situation and was investigating, Fox 13 reported Monday.

Officials noted the ship’s itinerary was not affected, and “all crew are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and tested weekly.”

Guests aged 12 and up were required to be fully vaccinated in order to sail and children too young to be vaccinated were tested prior to boarding, the Royal Caribbean International website said.

“All crew members onboard our ships, and at our private destinations, are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and tested at least once a week. Crew members receive a booster shot as they become eligible (six months after their last vaccination dose),” the site continued.

The Symphony of the Seas is the largest cruise ship in the world, according to the company’s website.

In June, eight crew members on the Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas tested positive for the coronavirus, which prompted the ship to postpone its inaugural sail from Fort Lauderdale, Breitbart News reported.