The Washington Post - 13.03.2020

A12 eZ Re the washington post.friday, march 13 , 2020

The coronavirus outbreak

Seema Verma and Surgeon Gen- eral Jerome Adams, the people said. The advisories from the State Department and the CDC were recommended by the White House coronavirus task force, according to an administration offi- cial who said Trump and Vice President Pence knew about them in advance. There has been mounting frus- tration with the cruise industry’s handling of the crisis among top administration officials, including in the office of Pence, according to people with knowledge of their thinking. The lack of a clear mitigation plan for ships with outbreaks has forced the government to handle the expensive and complicated logistics of evacuating and quar- antining thousands of potentially infected passengers this week aboard the Grand Princess in Oakland, an operation that has drawn in the National Guard and the Defense Department, among other agencies. On Thursday, Princess Cruises announced that it was voluntarily canceling trips on its 18 ships worldwide through May 10, fol- lowing a similar temporary sus- pension by Viking. Carnival, which owns Princess Cruises as well as Carnival Cruise Line, Hol- land America Line and several other lines, has not announced whether others will follow suit. In its proposal, the industry said it plans to deny boarding to anyone older than 70 unless they have a doctor’s note, said people familiar with the plan. People who are obviously ill won’t be allowed to board. The plan also addresses testing passengers for the virus while they are on ships and how cruise lines will pay for the care of sick passengers or crew members. However, some administration officials do not think the proposal goes far enough to screen passengers or deal with an outbreak, the people said.

Bari Golin-Blaugrund, a spokeswoman for the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), the industry’s trade group, said the industry is fo- cused on the health and safety of its guests and crew. “CLIA has participated as-in- vited in briefings with policymak- ers since the emergence of the crisis which culminated with a meeting with Vice President Pence,” she said in a statement. “We have submitted an industry- funded plan to the government consistent with input from government officials that doesn’t come with a price tag for taxpay- ers. Some plan details include more stringent boarding procedures, additional onboard medical protocols, monitoring capabil- ities, quarantine arrangements and shoreside care for guests and crew in the event of detection of COVID-19.” Carnival spokesman Roger Frizzell declined to comment on any discussions executives may have had with the White House, but said the company is not seeking a bailout. “We are working as part of an industry-wide group of cruise line leaders with Vice President Pence to develop proactive initiatives from the cruise industry to en- hance our health and safety mea- sures,” he said.

At the center of the storm Two Princess ships became ce ntral characters in the global spread of the disease when they were found to be carrying infected people and forced to quarantine passengers before they were allowed to disembark. Trump was infuriated when he learned last month that U.S. au- thorities had brought coronavirus-infected Americans home from a ship in Japan, as The Washington Post previously reported. He said last week that he would have preferred to leave Americans aboard the second ship docked in California because

he did not want the coronavirus numbers to rise in the United States. About 700 people aboard the Diamond Princess became infected while the ship was moored for weeks off the coast of Japan. Of 3,500 people on a second ship, the Grand Princess, at least 21 have tested positive, and the vessel remains docked in Oakland as tests continue. Passengers who have been per- mitted to leave the ship have been sent to military bases in Califor- nia, Georgia and Te xas for quarantine. Before leaving the Grand Prin- cess, two passengers from Florida filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking more than $1 million in damages for being put at “serious risk of imminent harm.” The company said it is committed to the well-being of its passengers and declined to comment on pending litigation. A third ship, the Caribbean Princess, was forced to cut short a voyage Sunday and head back to U.S. waters from Costa Rica to test two crew members for the coronavirus. As the pandemic has grown, health experts have warned that cruise ships could facilitate infections. “Cruises inherently have con- ditions that can promote infec- tious disease spread,” s aid Henry Wu, assistant professor of infec- tious diseases at Emory Universi- ty School of Medicine and direc- tor of the Emory TravelWell Cen- ter. “Shared facilities, such as common bathrooms, cafeterias, are of particular concern. Infect- ed crew members or incomplete environmental cleaning can also lead to continuation of outbreaks on subsequent voyages.” Some lawmakers are pushing for an industry shutdown. Cruise companies should im- mediately stop launching new voyages, said Sen. Richard Blu- menthal (D-Conn.), adding that “if they won’t do it voluntarily, we

should look at mandatory mea- sures.” “Cruise ships are small cities at sea, isolated from professional medical facilities. They compel people to be in very crowded situations,” he told The Post. “They seem to bring together people in almost exactly the way we are trying to avoid at the mo- ment.” CLIA said that cruise lines work diligently to sanitize ships, screen passengers and train crew members in safety procedures. Ships also undergo inspections by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cruise sector supports about 422,000 jobs in the United States, more than a third of which are in the key political battle- ground state of Florida, the trade group said. But the major cruise lines are incorporated overseas and pay virtually no federal taxes. A patch- work of weak international laws governs the industry, critics say. Trump’s personal connections to the industry date back more than a decade. Arison, a billionaire and donor to both political parties, has known Trump for years. The two were photographed in 2005 at a game of Arison’s Miami Heat bas- ketball team with their wives, and Trump sent Arison a congratula- tory tweet in 2012 when the team won the NBA championship. Ari- son returned the favor by congrat- ulating Trump on renovations and new steakhouse at t he Trump National Doral golf club in Mi- ami, near Carnival’s own head- quarters. (One of Arison’s tweets about Trump was deleted Wednesday after a Post reporter highlighted it.) Their franchises joined forces at t imes. In 2 005, Trump presided over the launch of a Carnival “A pprentice Legend Cruise” f rom New York to the Caribbean featur- ing cast members from “The Ap- prentice,” his NBC reality show. And in 2017, shortly after his

BY JOSH DAWSEY, JONATHAN O’CONNELL, ASHLEY PARKER AND BETH REINHARD

Huddled with donors at his
private Mar-a-Lago Club on Fri-
day, President Trump told sup-
porters that he was intent on
protecting the cruise industry
from the fallout of the coronavi-
rus crisis — even as top health
officials and other key advisers
were privately pushing him to
keep the public off the ships.
Two days later, the State De-
partment and the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention
(CDC) warned U.S. citizens, par-
ticularly those with medical is-
sues, not to travel by cruise ship,
sending the industry into a panic,
according to people familiar with
the situation, who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to de-
scribe private discussions.
The administration’s whipsaw-
ing posture has led to an intensive
behind-the-scenes lobbying effort
by cruise executives to mitigate
the financial fallout from the vi-
rus, which has infected passen-
gers and crew members on at
least two Carnival-owned Prin-
cess Cruise ships.
The coming days will test the
clout of the industry, which has
long-standing connections to
Trump, including through Carni-
val Corp. chairman Micky Arison,
a friend whose company helped
sponsor Trump’s reality show
franchise “The Apprentice” over
the years.
The cruise lines have raced to
get ahead of further government
action, voluntarily suspending a
small number of voyages this
week and pitching to the White
House a plan to safeguard passen-
gers.
But stock value of cruise com-
panies has plummeted as the in-
dustry struggled to deal with the
infections on the two ships and
warnings from health experts
about the risks of such travel.
Trump appears sympathetic
and has said he wants to help the
cruise lines. At the donor event
Friday, the president brought up
the industry and said he did not
want it to shut it down or for it to
suffer job losses, according to
three people familiar with his
remarks, who spoke on the condi-
tion of anonymity to describe the
closed-door event.
A White House spokesman de-
clined to comment.
Trump echoed that sentiment
publicly Monday, saying at a
White House news conference
that he was concerned that cruise
lines and airlines “will be hit.”
“We’re working with them very,
very strongly,” he said. “We want
them to travel.”
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin said Wednesday that
the administration was consider-
ing emergency assistance for af-
fected industries. “This is not a
bailout. This is considering pro-
viding certain things for certain
industries. Airlines, hotels, cruise
lines,” he said.
But at the same time, several
top health officials and members
of the administration’s coronavi-
rus task force have been pushing
for a tougher stance and wanted
to impose a temporary ban on
Americans going on cruise ships,
according to people familiar with
the conversations.
They included Health and Hu-
man Services Secretary Alex Azar,
Centers for Medicare and Medic-
aid Services Administrator

inauguration, Carnival spon- sored the two-part finale of “The New Celebrity Apprentice” in which the company’s chief executive appeared in one episode. Trump has other ties to the cruise industry. His wife, Melania Trump, christened one of the Nor- wegian Cruise Line’s n ewest ships in 2005 and was dubbed the vessel’s “godmother.” The company made a $100,000 donation to Trump’s charitable foundation that year. And some of the president’s t op allies have represented the industry, which spent $3.6 million last year on federal lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Brian Ballard, a major Trump fundraiser, and former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, who helped defend Trump during his impeachment trial, were registered federal lobbyists for Carni- val North American from Febru- ary to August last year, lobbying records show. Ta ndy Bondi, Bondi’s sister-in- law, r emains registered as a federal lobbyist for Carnival North America, records show, and has tried to help the company deal with the virus fallout, according to a person familiar with her role. Ta ndy Bondi declined to comment.

Crisis leads to a scramble As the coronavirus crisis un- folded, the industry began a public-relations campaign aimed at reassuring people that cruises are safe and sanitary. Executives scrambled to con- vince the administration that it could handle the situation. On Saturday, Pence met with corpo- rate leaders at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, including Del Rio of Norwegian, Carnival chief executive Arnold Donald and Royal Caribbean Cruises chief executive Richard Fain. A day earlier, two Floridians tested positive for the coronavirus, including one who worked as a guide for cruise companies. “We made it very clear that we needed cruise lines to be safer; to establish and to embrace new protocols; screening onboard, screening off; new medical protocols; shipboard processes for evacuating people that may con- tract coronavirus or a serious ill- ness,” Pence later told reporters. The stern message came after a number of government agencies have been deployed to help those stuck on the cruise ships, officials said. The Health and Human Servic- es Department has provided health screenings for anyone on the Grand Princess with medical concerns, going door to door on the ship, and is delivering any needed medication to those in quarantine. The Defense Depart- ment worked to arrange housing for passengers on four military bases, providing private rooms and bathrooms for the cruise pa- trons for two weeks while they self-isolated, while also keeping the U.S. military forces separate and protected. In addition, officials are helping to coordinate meals, weather-appropriate clothing and children’s activities. josh. [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

yasmeen abutaleb, tom hamburger and hannah sampson contributed to this report.

Crisis tests a cruise industry with long ties to Trump

As administration considers whether to keep the public off ships, executives lobby to try to mitigate financial fallout

thos. Robinson/getty images Carnival Corp. chairman Micky Arison is a longtime friend of Donald Trump’s. In 2 005, Trump presided over the launch of a Carnival “Apprentice Legend Cruise” to the Caribbean that featured cast members from “The Apprentice,” his NBC reality show.

BY DREW HARWELL

Norwegian Cruise Line manag-
ers urged their sales teams to
share false information about the
novel coronavirus to help land
bookings with potential custom-
ers, including that the virus can’t
affect people i n “tropical tempera-
tures,” l eaked emails from a com-
pany whistleblower s how.
The emails, first reported by
Miami New Times, show the
lengths to which the U.S. cruise
giant’s leaders have gone to pro-
tect the company against the dev-
astating financial impact of the
pandemic, which has infected
more than 121,000 people around
the world and killed more than
4,300.
The State Department has
warned travelers against taking
cruises during the pandemic, and
U.S. health officials have prevent-
ed some ships from s ailing. Cruise
lines are expected to lose hun-
dreds of millions of dollars this
year because of mass cancella-
tions and a slowing of new trips.
On Thursday, two cruise lines,

Princess and Viking, suspended sailings for two months. Norwegian Cruise Line’s stock plunged 26 percent Wednesday and has fallen nearly 75 percent from its January peak. The company did not respond to requests for comment. In emails the whistleblower shared w ith The Washington Post, salespeople were given a list of one-liners to help “close your guests that are on the fence,” i n- cluding that virus-related cancel- lations in Asia have “caused a huge surge in demand” f or other trips. The recommended lines, writ- ten last month by a manager whose LinkedIn profile suggests the person has w orked at t he company for more than eight years, also c ompared the number of con- firmed cases of the coronavirus with the flu and said, falsely, that the virus “cannot live in the amaz- ingly warm and tropical temperatures that your cruise will be sail- ing to.” “The only thing you need to worry about for your cruise is do you have enough sunscreen?” the

manager wrote in an email ad- dressed to dozens employees in two sales offices i n Florida. The whistleblower, an employ- ee in South Florida who spoke on the condition of anonymity f or fear of retaliation, said several dozen people on the sales team have been instructed to call more than 1 50 people a day i n pursuit of cruise bookings. “That means hundreds o r thousands of people o n a daily basis are potentially getting this false information,” the whistleblower said. “This is what they’re expecting everyone on our sales team to be saying to all of o ur customers.” Employees were also urged to tell customers that scientists and “medical professionals have con- firmed that the warm weather of the spring will be the end of the Coronavirus,” the emails show. But that assertion is contradicted by early scientific evidence, which suggests that the novel coronavirus can spread easily across a wide range of communities, including in warm and h umid climates. “Certainly out here in Singa-

pore, it transmits without any problem,” David Heymann, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said in an interview. Singapore’s government has recently imple- mented strict policies, including social distancing, to stem the outbreak, with apparent s uccess. Epidemiologists and health experts also suspect that the virus’s spread could continue for months. Jeffrey Shaman, the di- rector of the climate and health program at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, said there has been no clear evidence to suggest that the coronavirus that causes the covid-19 disease i s less transmissible at h igher temperatures. The ongoing pandemic, he said, could last straight through the summer in the United States a nd Europe. Large groups of people in close quarters for extended periods, such as on cruise ships, c ould lead to continued transmission, health experts said. The Grand Princess, a ship owned by Princess Cruises that docked in Oakland, Calif., on

Monday, had more than 3, people aboard who were potentially exposed to the virus and were expected to be quarantined. Some of the sales managers’ messages echo those of President Trump, who has been criticized for saying that the coronavirus “dies with the hotter weather” a nd “is very much under control” i n the United S tates. In the email of one-liners, sales representatives were told to “NOT USE THESE unless the coronavirus is brought up.” B ut the whistleblower said the virus is c allers’ top concern: “Every single call we’re getting right now is about the virus. Everyone wants to know what’s going on, what’s h appening to the s hips. Most p eople just want to cancel.” Cruise lines have faced an on- slaught of passenger concerns over the safety of upcoming trips. Chris Chiames, a spokesman for Carnival Cruise Line, said the company has expanded its cus- tomer cancellation policies and provided employees “with clear guidance on working with our

guests in a positive and construc- tive m anner.” In another leaked Norwegian Cruise Line email, another sales manager based at the company’s Miami office suggested that “medical fear stories” were being exag- gerated to make “more moola for the fat cats at major media hous- es.” “Focusing all of your attention is actually illogical, especially when we live in a world of daily threats and dangers anyhow,” the manager wrote under the head- line “The coronavirus will not affect you.” “Fact: Coronavirus in humans is an overhyped p andem- ic scare.” The whistleblower told The Post t hat company leaders are trying to find out who shared the emails. In one email sent Monday evening, after a Miami New Times journalist contacted the company, an executive wrote, “One of our own ratted.” [email protected]

andrew Freedman contributed to this report.

Norwegian Cruise Line e mployees allegedly spread falsehoods about virus

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The Washington Post - 13.03.2020

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