The U.S. Coast Guard is telling foreign-flagged cruise ships to be prepared to care for people with COVID-19 for an "indefinite period of time" at sea or to seek help from countries other than the U.S., citing a health care system that is being overwhelmed. The instructions are in a new safety bulletin that took effect this week along the southern Atlantic coast, including Florida – which is reporting more than 6,700 coronavirus cases, as of Tuesday evening.
If a cruise ship must send someone ashore for medical care, its owner will be responsible for essentially every step of the trip, from arranging an evacuation to hiring a private ambulance and ensuring the person has a spot in a hospital. But theCoast Guard bulletin, signed by Rear Adm. E.C. Jones of the 7th District based in Miami, also says it could be difficult to find any facility in South Florida that can take new COVID-19 patients.
"Medical facilities in the Port of Miami, for example, are no longer accepting MEDEVAC patients due to limited hospital capacity and it is expected that neighboring counties will follow suit," wrote Jones, whose Coast Guard district includes Florida, Puerto Rico, Georgia and South Carolina.
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If these ships were documented in the United States the Coast Guard could not refused permission to dock here. But no, the cruise lines had to be cute and wanted to avoid taxes and regulations so they documented them in Panama, Bermuda and The Bahamas. Karma is a bitch.
ReplyDeleteAn important thing to mention is that many cruise ships sail under the flag of Bahamas and not the US to avoid taxes. So when they come crawling back to the US we send them to the country they sail under.
ReplyDeleteEasiest way to resolve is open scuttles and sink the ships with all aboard.. Port problem solved, most are foreigners anyway
ReplyDeleteGoing to have to sink them to enforce it. They will refuse to change their course. They are desperate, starving, and dying. If running a blockade will give them hope, they are going to do it. I don't blame them.
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