Cruise ship warns passengers they may have been exposed to coronavirus

Passengers who went on a Carnival cruise were notified Thursday that they could have come into contact with the coronavirus after a crew member tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.

The Carnival Freedom left Galveston, Texas, for a 6-day cruise on March 8, the day before the Centers for Disease Control and Protection issued a recommendation that people not travel on cruise ships, The Miami Herald reports.

Carnival spokesman Chris Chiames told the paper that the sick crew member was admitted to the hospital on Monday and received the positive test result on Wednesday. Passengers, who had gotten off the ship on March 14, were told by email on Thursday.

“During the cruise, we did not have any guests or crew who reported any symptoms of COVID-19 or influenza-like illness,” Dr. Grant Tarling, Carnival’s chief medical officer, told the passengers. 

Chiames also said that the crew members haven’t been allowed to disembark from the ship and that the crew has been observing social distancing. Crew members who do exhibit flu-like symptoms consistent with COVID-19 are isolated accordingly.

More than half a million people worldwide have been infected by COVID-19, with more than 83,000 confirmed cases in the U.S.