A 77-year-old woman died from COVID after testing positive on a Carnival cruise ship to Belize, marking the first reported death since ex-USA to Caribbean voyages restarted in June.
On August 11, the Belize Tourism Board in a press release announced that the CCL-Carnival Cruise Line's ship Carnival Vista had a total of 27 COVID-positive cases. Of the infected, 26 were staff-crew plus one passenger.
The outbreak (initially 23 crew) was registered after the ship departed from homeport Galveston Texas, on a 7-day Western Caribbean itinerary visiting Honduras (Roatan Island's Mahogany Bay/Aug 10), Belize (Belize City/Aug 11), and Mexico (Cozumel/Aug 12).
According to the Belize Tourism Board's information, the Carnival ship Vista carried a total of 4336 people (2895 passengers plus 1441 crew-staff), and 99,98% of the crew and 96,5% of the passengers were vaccinated.
All COVID-positive (including the old lady) were vaccinated (asymptomatic or with mild symptoms) and in isolation onboard.
The woman, who was from Oklahoma, departed on Carnival Vista with her family on July 31 and tested COVID-positive after experiencing respiratory complications during the voyage. She was admitted to a hospital in Belize and put on a ventilator prior to being medevaced via helicopter to Tulsa OK to receive treatment.
For more Carnival Vista accidents and incidents see the ship's CruiseMinus page.