CDC 'hopeful' that cruises can resume by mid-summer, Buttigieg says
Fox News
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is optimistic that cruises can resume by mid-summer, as operators struggle to stay afloat one year after sailing was shut down due to coronavirus concerns.
Buttigieg shared the CDC’s latest stance during a White House press briefing on Friday. According to an official transcript, a reporter asked the secretary to comment on concerns from cruise industry leaders that the CDC's most recent technical guidance under the Framework for Conditional Sailing Order (CSO) was much more ambiguous than the regulations for commercial airlines to fly during this time. "Well, the bottom line is safety… I can’t wait for us all to be on the move as much as possible in a safe and responsible way, but it’s got to be safe and responsible," Buttigieg said. "And airlines have — airplanes have one safety profile; cruise ships have another, vehicles have another. And each one needs to be treated based on what’s safe for that sector." "I certainly care a lot about seeing the cruise sector thrive. And I know that CDC is hopeful that a lot of these operators will be in a position to be sailing by mid-summer," he stressed. "And laying out these specific, kind of, gates that they need to get through is a very important step toward that."
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