The USA's CDC agency is working on a new red-yellow-green colour system for identifying cruise ships with COVID cases. The purpose is to detect, prevent and mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on large-sized passenger liners.
The vessels will be graded on a colour-coded system: green (no confirmed cases/flu-like illness for 28 days), yellow (1/more cases pending confirmation), red (1/more cases or flu-like illness within the past 28 days). In case the ship is designated green, crew repatriation voyages will be allowed.
The CDC issued a colour-coded system for use during the period of its No Sail Order:
"Green Ship Criteria
- No confirmed cases of COVID-19 or COVID-like illness for 28 days, as determined by a qualified medical professional.
- If the ship received ship-to-ship transfers within the past 28 days, crew must have come from a ship that had no confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like illness within the 28 days before the transfer occurred.
- If land-based crew embarked, they were immediately quarantined for 14 days upon embarking the ship.
Yellow Ship Criteria
- Previously designated Green, but now has 1 or more COVID-like illness cases pending COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
- If PCR positive, status changes to Red (must sign attestation again after meeting criteria again)
- If PCR negative, status goes back to Green
- If crew with COVID-like illness are not tested by PCR or if results are not available within 1 week of the case being reported, status changes to Red.
- If the ship received ship-to-ship transfers within the past 28 days, crew must have come from a ship that had no confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like illness within the 28 days before the transfer occurred. If not, status changes to Red.
- If land-based crew embarked, they were immediately quarantined for 14 days upon embarking the ship. If not, status changes to Red.
Red Ship Criteria
- One or more cases of confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like Illness within the past 28 days, or Ship received ship-to-ship transfers from a ship that had confirmed COVID-19 or COVID-like illness within the 28 days before the transfer occurred, or If land-based crew embarked, they were not immediately quarantined for 14 days upon embarking the ship, or During the past 28 days, the ship missed one or more weekly submission of the EDC form."
The CDC is expected to publish the new system "in the coming week" along with a scorecard for each vessel operating in U.S. waters that reflects its level of infection.