A television station in Belize, 7 News Belize, reported on the latest illness from the Carnival Vista. Belize, of course, is one of the ports on the itinerary of the ill-fated Carnival cruise ship which arrived in that country’s waters on August 10th with 27 people ( 26 crew and 1 passenger) infected with COVID-19. We previously reported that the Carnival cruise ship left Galveston, Texas on August 7th with 23 infected crew members; the count increased to 26 infected crew members by the time it arrived at the prior port on the cruise, Roatan, on the 11th. Yesterday Belize News 7 mentioned the death of the 77 year-old grandmother who Carnival left in a hospital in Belize and who died in the U.S. after her family was forced to raise money via a Go Fund Me page for her to fly from Belize back home (our report here). Yesterday the station aired news that:
“A cruise visitor 79 year-old female who came to Belize on a Carnival Cruise was hospitalized here and then died when she returned by ambulance to the US. There is still a male patient from the US hospitalized in Belize, according to our reports he is in bad shape. Are cruise ships dumping COVID patients in Belize and exposing Belize unnecessarily to these dangerous variants?”
Breaking Belize News also covered these circumstances in its article titled Health Minister says he “doesn’t know” that cruise ships are dumping COVID-19 patients in Belize after one dies on return home.
Health Minister says he “doesn’t know” that cruise ships are dumping COVID-19 patients in Belize after one dies on return home
https://t.co/wQ8epgu5iY— Breaking Belize News (@belizemedia) August 18, 2021
A second Carnival #cruise passenger, male, from the Carnival Vista is also hospitalized in #Belize and "said to be in bad shape” @belizemedia reports https://t.co/dHYBtiUaOr #COVID19 #Cruise #COVID19 / cover up by @CarnivalCruise? / Meanwhile . . . (1/2) pic.twitter.com/QcKpwVB8mM
— James (Jim) Walker (@CruiseLaw) August 18, 2021
Carnival Cruise Line has struggled to downplay the COVID-19 outbreak on the Carnival Vista by suggesting that the company was effectively managing what it repeatedly called just a “small number” of cases which involved only either mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. The Points Guy (Gene Sloan) wrote last week in his article titled “Cruise giant Carnival grapples with a significant COVID-19 outbreak on ship:”
” . . . a COVID-19 outbreak that has been simmering for several days and that Carnival appears to have tried to downplay. Carnival in recent days only has said that it is “managing a small number of positive [COVID-19] cases” on board Carnival Vista — a phrase the line used again Friday in a statement sent to TPG.
The truth is that the COVID-19 cases involve at least one death of a passenger (which we reported on August 17th), one person identified by the Belizean press yesterday and described only as a man in “bad shape,” and a total of 42 crew members. It is less than clear whether this latest very ill person, disclosed by the press in Belize, is a guest or a crew member.
Meanwhile . . . on #cruise ship with at least 26 infected crew, at least 1 guest in bad shape and 1 dead @CarnivalCruise falsely claims it is “managing a small number of positive cases” on the Carnival Vista / #COVID19 / how many more guests are infected? (2/2) pic.twitter.com/Jx9KDWiEnm
— James (Jim) Walker (@CruiseLaw) August 18, 2021
Yesterday, we reported that there were sixteen crew members positive for COVID-19 when the ship arrived again in Roatan on August 17th. There were 26 crew members with COVID last week. From the job descriptions, its appears that all of these infections are new, making a total of 42 infected crew members on the Carnival Vista in the last two weeks.
Considering Carnival’s less-than-transparent and completely misleading claim that it is just “managing a small number” of cases, who knows how many other guests were actually infected and are still suffering with serious symptoms?
We have learned of COVID-19 infections on other Carnival cruise ships that the cruise line has not acknowledged. If you are aware of COVID-19 cases involving the Carnival Vista, please contact us, Of course, you can remain anonymous if you prefer. We are continuing to maintain a database of positive cases on cruise ships.
Have a question or comment? Please leave one below or join the discussion on our Facebook page.
Image credit: Carnival Vista – Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images via CNN.