| CLIA Update 12 Jan 22

WITH Joel Katz, MD, CLIA Australasia – Travel gets hurt again: As Omicron becomes endemic
in our communities, we can
now see how travel gets treated
differently.
Knee-jerk reactions in many
countries are again having a
detrimental impact on the travel
industry, yet on the ground we’re
often seeing a different response.
No setting is immune from
COVID-19 and we are indeed
seeing cases being detected on
cruise ships as Omicron spreads.
The difference, however, is
that cruise ships are subject
to stringent, science-based
measures that include testing and
vaccination requirements before
boarding and detailed response
plans to manage any suspected
cases on board.
This isn’t true in your local
shops, pubs, theatres or most
other land-based settings, and
it’s now clear the incidence of
COVID-19 is far lower on cruise
ships than it is on land.
In parts of Australia tens of
thousands of cases are emerging
each day, with few of the health
protocols that are now an intrinsic
part of cruising.
It’s time governments
recognised that cruising has gone
above and beyond most other
sectors during this pandemic, and
ended the different treatment
that hurts travel industry
professionals so deeply.