Coronavirus: 6 cruise ship passengers test positive for COVID-19

Six passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship tested positive for COVID-19, officials said.

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The passengers -- four vaccinated adults and two unvaccinated minors -- tested positive during a routine end-of-trip screening Thursday on Royal Caribbean’s Adventure of the Seas, The Washington Post reported.

The seven-night cruise departed from Nassau, Bahamas, on Sunday, according to CNN. There is about 1,100 guests on the cruise ship, about 35% of capacity, according to the newspaper. The ship also has approximately 900 crew members.

Before arriving in Freeport on Friday, the ship stopped at the cruise line’s private Bahamian island and in Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise will end Saturday in Nassau.

All six passengers are American citizens, Lyan Sierra-Caro, spokesperson for Royal Caribbean, told USA Today. Both minors were asymptomatic and were in the same party, but not with the adults who tested positive, the Post reported.

The vaccinated adults were not traveling together; three were asymptomatic and one had mild symptoms, Sierra-Caro told the newspaper.

The passengers were immediately quarantined, and their travel companions and close contacts all tested negative, the Post reported. They left the ship with their travel groups in Freeport, Bahamas, and were sent to their homes via private flights, according to USA Today.

Children ineligible for vaccinations are required to take three tests, according to Royal Caribbean’s website: A PCR test before arriving in the Bahamas, a complimentary COVID-19 test on boarding day and a third complimentary test on Day 5 or 6 of the cruise, CNN reported.

Vaccinated guests aboard Adventure of the Seas are not required to wear face coverings on the ship, according to Royal Caribbean guidelines posted on the company website.

Sierra-Caro said the cruise line was not able to determine on board whether the passengers were infected with the COVID-19 delta variant.

“We are going to be doing additional tests so we can look into this,” Sierra-Caro told the Post in an email.

Before arriving in Freeport on Friday, Adventure of the Seas stopped at the cruise line’s private Bahamian island and in Cozumel, Mexico. The cruise ends Saturday in Nassau, the Post reported.

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