End the Year as it Began: Covid-19 and the CDC…Ugh

Today the CDC decided to recommend nobody go on a cruise even when the cruise lines require you to be vaccinated and to be tested before boarding the ship.  This makes no scientific sense and, to me, is highly irresponsible and utterly inconsistent with its recommendations regarding going out to dinner or a show or a stadium, etc. with unvaccinated people surrounding you, etc. It is, however, fairly consistent with its ever-increasing CDC list of countries you shouldn’t visit…which effectively worldwide….like it is safer here in the United States (or is it?)

Why hasn’t the CDC admitted the clear, statistically proven, truth: (1) The rate of Covid-19 infections on cruise ships is far below that in the general public; and (2) The rate of spread from an infected person on a cruise ship is almost certainly lower than the spread in the general public.

According to Royal Caribbean Group (Silversea, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean) since cruising restarted in the U.S. in June 2021, the Royal Caribbean Group has carried 1.1 million guests with 1,745 people testing positive – a positivity rate of 0.162%.  [That is .162 out of 10,000 guests…and that is with Royal and Celebrity sailing with 5% unvaccinated guests for an extended period!]   Furthermore, the vast majority of those cases had no symptoms or only mild symptoms, with only 41 people needing hospitalization. 

Now, how many people do you know that have gotten Covid-19…even after being vaccinated?  You know it is far greater than 1 out of 100,000!

So let’s take a moment for a Reality Check!

Remember when we all thought 2021 would be better than 2020?  Honestly, I do hope that we all realize that 2021 is actually a whole lot better than 2020. We have vaccines, antiviral medicines, a better understanding of Covid-19, and the ability to do a whole lot more than being locked down. 

The other very important thing that has changed is that we now pretty much accept that Covid-19 is not going away anytime soon and any belief that it will be irradicated is simply unrealistic…so we are going to have to find ways to live with it, as we have with so many other viruses.

One thing that hasn’t changed, despite all the progress, is the CDC and its anti-cruise prejudice. That is magnified when the persistence of the CDC refusing to provide accurate perspective on the differences between Covid-19 illnesses, including severity, between those vaccinated and those who aren’t and those who have underlying conditions (and specifically which ones are the most fraught with issues) and those who do not.

Let’s break things down so that rational thought, not hyped up hysteria, can assist us:

• Unvaccinated people account for 98-99% of Covid-19 deaths.
• Obesity increases your chance of hospitalization by three-fold (far more than 3 times).
• Death from Covid-19 is 80 times higher in people over 65 than those 12-29 in large part because older people (most significantly over 65 have other health issues).
• 81+% of Covid-19 deaths are in people over 65
• The vast majority of those over 65 have co-morbidity issues ranging from chronic lung disease to obesity to kidney failure to heart conditions to…well you get the idea.
• There is a huge amount of testing now that did not occur previously and the CDC has never factored that into its figures as to the increased number of cases.
• Even with the huge increase in testing, and hence known Covid-19 cases, serious symptoms, hospitalization, and deaths have significantly DECREASED as a percentage of people infected. 
• The symptoms of those with breakthrough Covid-19 cases are almost always none to mild and require no treatment
• Those who are vaccinated and boosted have a much lower rate of virus so have far less ability to infect others.

Here are a couple of articles to assist you:

People with Certain Medical Conditions | CDC

Staggering COVID-19 Statistic: 98% to 99% of Americans Dying are Unvaccinated – AU/UGA Medical Partnership (usg.edu)

 I could go on, but you get the idea!

The IRONY!

And this brings me to the irony of all ironies when dealing with the CDC: Statistically, it is far safer to be on a cruise ship than it is to be in the general public!

I have flown thousands of miles over untold hours after being through a dozen+ airports (with no CDC warnings not to be in either place) to go on three cruises (Caribbean, Greece & Alaska) on three different cruise lines with three different, but fairly consistent, protocols. And I was able to get off the ship and do what I pleased on the latter two. No issues.

I went to Iceland for a week. No issues.

I went to New York City and there were a few cases of Covid-19 reported at the Travel Weekly Gala, but no reported cases of new infections (vaccine cards and photo ID were required…just like on cruise ships).

But I did get a breakthrough Covid-19 infection in Las Vegas…where there were no real mask controls, no vaccine requirements, nothing. But the CDC does not say you should avoid Las Vegas. 

So when you are deciding if you should go to a restaurant and will have no idea if the person next to you is vaccinated or boosted and you sit next to them for hours what are the factors you weigh?  Do you balance your acceptance of Covid-19 always going to be here, the scientifically shown very small chance you will get seriously ill (like getting the flu or worse) and you need to live a normal life against your concern that your physical co-morbidities could affect your outcome? 

Or do you say, “I will go to Las Vegas. I will go on an airplane. I will go to restaurants. I will go to shows. I will go to friends’ houses for a party with people I don’t really know are vaccinated. BUT I will not go on a cruise because the CDC says I shouldn’t.”

Or maybe it is also the media who find the most outrageous person they could to quote…so you will continually watch their television shows and read their articles so that they can make money from their advertisements.

You have to make your personal decision. I just wish the CDC would give you the information you need to understand what the facts really are rather than giving splashy headlines that really have no basis in science, but rather prejudice.

Up Next: My COVID 19 Perspective