If you’ve got a cruise booked anytime soon, you may want to reconsider. In a truly baffling development, every single person working in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program has just been fired. These were the people monitoring contagious diseases like norovirus aboard cruise ships, with an outbreak of puking and diarrhea somewhat spoiling the elegance of a trip.
These layoffs are a part of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s layoffs, designed to shrink the size of public health agencies and save money. But, in a truly baffling twist, the CDC cruise ship programme wasn’t paid for by the taxpayer, but by fees charged to the cruise ship companies. So, the only people saving money here are the cruise ship firms (well, until the clean-up bill arrives anyway).
The @CDCgov's cruise ship inspectors have been laid off, as well as agency's head epidemiologist for investigating cruise ship outbreaks
— Alexander Tin (@Alexander_Tin) April 10, 2025
That baffled health officials since this program is paid for by cruise ship fees, not taxpayer dollarshttps://t.co/pWfLA4KsyC
In a worrying twist, the fired staff were in the middle of responding to two outbreaks as they were let go, and it’s unknown what’ll happen next. Erik Svendsen, the now-fired former head of the CDC’s Division of Environmental Health Science and Practice, sounded a grim note: “Affected services include outbreak investigations, coordination with state and local health departments, follow-up on lab-confirmed cases of acute gastroenteritis after travel, and communications such as website updates.”
Anyone who’s paid attention to the headlines will know the grim reality of what can happen aboard a cruise ship with a viral outbreak. For example, in Feb. 2025, Holland America Line’s Eurodam experienced a norovirus outbreak that left nearly 79 passengers and nine crew members suffering from diarrhea and vomiting. At the time, a line’s representative explained that they: “initiated enhanced sanitation protocols in conjunction with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to minimize further transmission, including continuous disinfection of the ship.”
Are you kidding me?! Think twice before you take that cruise. I worked the COVID cruise evacuations during Trump’s first term—they scarred me for life. And now, in his second? They’ve gutted the CDC unit that inspects cruise ships for norovirus, E. coli & other outbreaks. This is…
— Olivia of Troye (@OliviaTroye) April 11, 2025
There was even an enormous outbreak earlier this month, with 200 luxury cruise ship passengers about the Queen Mary 2 coming down with norovirus, with passengers confined to their cabins in strict quarantine.
Who knows what’ll happen now? Perhaps in the event of an outbreak, they’ll just abandon the ships and hope the passengers find their way out of a puke-saturated, excrement-coated nightmare on their own? Either way, if you’re brave enough to take a cruise over the summer be sure to frequently wash your hands, be prepared to be confined to your room and, uh maybe stay away from the sushi buffet.
Published: Apr 11, 2025 09:15 am