The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testifies during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to examine the federal response to the coronaviruses disease.
The CDC Director said during a Senate hearing Tuesday that there has been a 30-fold increase in Covid-19 cases on cruise ships.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned against cruise ship travel, regardless of passengers' vaccination status.
In the first two weeks of December, there were more than 150 cases aboard vessels. Cruise lines disclosed more cases as the cases continued to mount. The CDC received about 5,000 Covid cases from ships operating in the U.S. waters.
On Tuesday, Walensky didn't provide an updated figure.
Some ships have been operating under the CDC's conditional sailing order, which sets safety procedures like mandated testing for foreign-operated cruise ships operating in American water. The order has been changed a few times.
Walensky doesn't think the order will be renewed. The agency expects to work alongside cruise lines. Walensky hopes that the cruise ship industries will continue to understand that this is a really safe practice.
Walensky said that he can't predict what the summer will bring.
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