The consequences of Governor Abbott's decisions may yet impact upon Texan's freedoms
Royal Caribbean Cruises have confirmed that all passengers over the age of 12 who wish to board its cruise ships in Galveston, Texas from August this year will need to prove they are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The move comes in spite of various measures imposed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott to ensure that vaccines weren't mandated in the state, and that controlling measures wouldn't impinge upon citizens' freedoms.
- In May he introduced legislation that prohibited government entities from mandating the wearing of masks, through the threat of $1000 fines.
- Early in June he signed an executive order preventing Texan businesses from discriminating against customers who hadn't been vaccinated, or from requesting proof of vaccine status using vaccine passports.
In spite of these restrictions, the decision by Royal Caribbean to only allow cruise passengers aboard their ships if they are fully vaccinated, demonstrates that the freedoms Abbott was seeking to protect only count for so much. Those who want to go on vacation or attend mass gatherings safely may well need to comply with controlling measures if they want to be given access. The message seems clear:
If people aren't willing to be vaccinated or to prove their vaccine status then they may have to get used to incurring additional costs and inconvenience as a result, or even accept that certain opportunities remain closed to them.
The need for controls and restrictions
Royal Caribbean has recently announced that only passengers boarding its cruise ships leaving Florida can do so without being vaccinated. For Florida cruises, the firm will be applying a series of controls over those who haven't been vaccinated (or cannot prove it), including:
- Charging unvaccinated guests over 16 years of age $136 per person for on-board COVID-19 testing.
- Restricting some events, shows and venues to vaccinated guests only.
- Disallowing unvaccinated guests for making dinner reservations in advance, and instead, providing them with specifically allowed dining times.
- Requiring facemasks indoors for all passengers, unless it's a vaccinated guests-only event.
Such restrictions for Florida passengers and those for customers sailing from Galveston may seem authoritarian, but they also seem necessary especially given the way that Covid-19 was proven to spread rapidly and dangerously on cruise ships at the outset of the pandemic.
When Covid-19 was detected among passengers on the cruise ship Diamond Princess in February 2020, passengers aboard the vessel were forced to quarantine offshore. Over 700 passengers onboard were infected with the virus - its spread enabled by the close concentration of passengers within the confines of the ship.
The measures introduced by Royal Caribbean are seen as a controlling measure for passengers boarding from within a state where attitudes towards the virus have favored the freedoms of citizens over means of controlling and eradicating the virus.
Meanwhile two vaccinated passengers on board a Celebrity Cruises ship (owned by Royal Caribbean Group) tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday June 17th, demonstrating that such controls remain necessary to prevent further outbreaks.
The effects of vaccine passports
Just as many the world-over have become used to smartphone apps that track and trace their interactions with others who later develop the virus, apps seem to present a solution to maximizing the benefit of the vaccine via passports.
Those who can prove they've been vaccinated present less of a risk for contracting and spreading the virus and are less of a risk to safe travel, particularly on flights and cruise ships where passengers are in close proximity for extended periods of time. Hawaii's governor David Ige was among the first to introduce Covid passports as a means of allowing inter-island travel in the state.
Articles in renowned medical and scientific journals have considered concerns over whether vaccine passports violate personal freedoms and confidentiality alongside the benefits of such schemes.
Whether citizens choose to believe that vaccine passports erode their freedoms or not comes down to individual choice. Those who are resistant to signing up for them are likely the same people who are against being vaccinated too.
The rights and freedoms of citizens
Many states have followed the example of Governor Abbott in ruling out the use of vaccine passports:
- Alabama has also outlawed them, banning businesses and public institutions from requiring vaccine passports to allow citizens access to services and events.
- Florida too banned vaccine passports after Governor Ron DeSantis objected to the overreach of control and intrusion by the federal government.
- Ohio state legislature recently debated a proposed vaccination choice and anti-discrimination act - at the session 700 Ohioans argued the case against vaccines, vaccine passports and mask mandates.
While the leaders of such states seem to believe they are acting in the best interests of their citizens, the move by Royal Caribbean is an early demonstration of the possible consequences that could emerge regardless of state government interventions.
It demonstrates that while businesses cannot force their customers to use a vaccine passport or to have the vaccine, it is within their power to introduce other measures to protect the health and safety of others, the cost of which has to be funded by the customers themselves and which are likely to be inconvenient too.
Similar measures may yet be announced by other travel companies (hotels, tour operators and airlines), organizers of concerts and festivals and other forms of mass-gathering. Businesses may not be able to ban those who are unvaccinated or who don't wish to prove their vaccine-status, but the additional costs and inconvenience may well be enough to persuade them to change their minds.
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