MSC Cruises announced it has formed its own group of experts to come up with a health policy for its ships to return to service.
MSC calls it a blue ribbon group that is comprised of experts in the fields of medicine, public health and sanitation, hotel services, HVAC, and more. The goal of the group is to create enhanced protocol and procedures for MSC ships to utilize going forward.
The group “will remain in place long beyond our return to operations to ensure we benefit from their know-how and input even as the situation continues to evolve and more data become available.” It will have a hand in forming the new protocols that will touch every part of the cruise experience, from booking and check-in to disembarkation.
The panel will come up with a new set of protocols, which will be announced soon. They will be designed to meet and exceed guidelines provided by key international and regional regulatory and technical bodies including the World Health Organization, the EU Healthy Gateways Joint Action and European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), as well as regulations set forth by many of the governments in the countries in which MSC ships operate.
The panel includes these members:
Professor Christakis Hadjichristodoulou, professor of hygiene and epidemiology in the faculty of medicine and vice president, School of Health Sciences at the University of Thessaly in Greece.
Professor Stephan J. Harbarth, hospital epidemiologist, infectious diseases specialist and head of the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program at the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG) and faculty of medicine.
Doctor Ian Norton, a specialist emergency physician with post graduate qualifications in Surgery, International Health and Tropical Medicine, currently managing director of Respond Global, formerly the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Medical Team Initiative program from 2014 until January 2020.
Matt Hochberg
Matt loves to cruise, and started Cruise.Blog as a place to share different cruise experiences, advice, and what to know before going on a cruise.
He lives in Florida with his wife and two daughters, where he can be found on any given day trying to convince his wife they "need" to book another cruise.
