Norwegian Gem cruise ship doctor dies after treating crew with respiratory illnesses
A doctor who had been treating crew members with respiratory illnesses died on board the Norwegian Gem on Thursday.
According to an email from Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings’ chief medical officer Dr. Carlos Gonzalez obtained by the Miami Herald, Dr. Alex Guevara died in his sleep from “cardio-respiratory arrest.”
“I am very sad about his passing,” the email said. “I know gossip has gone around the ships that he had covid-19, BUT HE DID NOT!...Alex has no symptoms of COVID-19, and actually he had done an amazing job treating respiratory cases on board his ship. ”
Gonzalez did not say whether Guevara was ever tested for COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of at least 14 crew members and left at least 1,110 infected, according to a Miami Herald investigation. Norwegian Cruise Line did not respond to a request for comment.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Guevara, from the Philippines, had worked as a doctor in the cruise industry since 1999.
In recent days, the company has moved its crew around to different ships without any COVID-19 testing while in international waters.
On the Norwegian Escape, crew members are sleeping two to a room, many of them in windowless cabins with strangers where the beds are just one inch apart. A crew member who transferred from the Norwegian Getaway to the Norwegian Escape said the company gave him a mask for the transfer, but then made him throw it away on the gangway when he arrived.
“I feel scared, but I’m trying to be brave,” he said.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines say asymptomatic crew members should be in individual cabins. The agency says crew members should wear face coverings when outside their cabins and practice social distancing. Crew on the Norwegian Escape, Norwegian Epic and Norwegian Getaway say people are constantly crowded around the ship without any face coverings.
Dr. Martin Cetron, the CDC’s director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, said in a phone interview Friday that the agency is hearing concerns from crew members about the conditions on board the ships.
“We provide the guidance and we expect they’ll adhere to it,” he said. “They’re sailing outside international waters, outside the purview of U.S. government.”
Crew members say they are not receiving any information from Norwegian Cruise Line about the number of sick people on board the ships or when and how they will be going home.
This story was originally published May 2, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Norwegian Gem cruise ship doctor dies after treating crew with respiratory illnesses."
