A crew member was evacuated over the weekend off a Celebrity Cruises ship — the same vessel from which a dead employee was removed last week.
US Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg watchstanders directed the discharge of the unnamed seafarer from the 90,940-gt Celebrity Infinity (built 2001), who was transported to shore via small boat tender after suffering from Covid-19-like symptoms. The worker was then transported to a local hospital.
The evacuation followed a dead crew member being removed from the ship, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
The ship is owned by Royal Caribbean, one of the cruise industry's "Big Three," long with Carnival Corp and Norwegian Cruise Line.
The Coast Guard also medevaced two crew members presenting Covid-19 symptoms from Royal Caribbean's 226,838-gt Oasis of the Seas (built 2009) Sunday evening.
Like the Celebrity Infinity evacuation, the crew members were brought ashore by small boat tender before transport to local hospitals.
Coast Guard 7th District commander Rear Admiral Eric Jones said the government was working to make sure no seafarer was left untreated for Covid-19, "however proactive measures are critical to ensuring our limited search and rescue resources and already stressed shore-side medical services do not get over-burdened".
"This emergency situation requires cruise ships to take additional measures to be reasonably self-sufficient in these emergency circumstances through improved on board medical care and protocols and pre-approved medical transport procedures."
The news of the evacuations come as Royal Caribbean and the cruise industry have come under fire for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
So far, Carnival Corp subsidiary Princess Cruise Line has been sued several times by passengers alleging they were exposed to the respiratory illness due to the company's poor response to the pandemic.
Norwegian Cruise Line has been sued by shareholders twice, alleging the company's leadership was not forthcoming about the impact Covid-19 was having on the business. Both lawsuits cited reports in the Miami New Times and Washington Post which pull from leaked emails and memos directing sales staff to downplay the virus to potential passengers.
Monday, Royal Caribbean in-house TV host Julia Melim told CNN that management and her coworkers did not take social distancing guidelines seriously, with crew continuing to eat together.
"They made me feel I was crazy to even bring it up," Melim told the television network, referring to social distancing.
"Anytime anyone raised a question, it was the general response: the ship is the safest place to be."
Royal Caribbean said the safety and welfare of its crewmembers is its "foremost concern." It said it took immediate action after a crew member aboard the Celebrity Infinity tested positive for Covid-19 on 23 March, including medical monitoring and ship sanitisation.
