MIAMI — Two more sick crew members were evacuated from the Oasis of the Seas on Friday afternoon, with one so sick the person couldn’t be transported by boat.
This brings the total of crew members so ill they needed to be hospitalized to seven in a little over a week on the Royal Caribbean ship.
Ellen Kennedy, spokeswoman for Port Everglades, confirmed the medical evacuations Friday afternoon. Royal Caribbean also confirmed the evacuations.
The crew members were taken to Broward Health, according to hospital spokeswoman Jennifer Smith.
An Oasis of the Seas crew member who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation said the captain made an announcement on the loudspeaker asking crew members not to film the ambulances taking their co-workers away.
The Oasis of the Seas, which has been sailing near South Florida with crew only after unloading passengers in PortMiami on March 15, has at least 14 crew members on board that tested positive for COVID-19.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently issued a “no-sail” order for cruises for at least the next 100 days and ordered cruises to come up with a better plan for tackling onboard infections by April 16.
“As operators of non-U.S. flagged vessels sailing in international waters, it is imperative that the cruise line industry and cruise lines themselves take responsibility for the care of their crew and do not further tax limited U.S. resources during a public health emergency,” the order said.
The industry halted cruise operations March 13, and no new passengers have boarded since then. However, there are still about 100 ships off the U.S. coasts with nearly 80,000 crew onboard.
There are also six cruise ships still at sea with passengers on board looking for a place to dock and four ships in ports trying to disembark their passengers.
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