ANCHORS AWAY, I GUESS

Mike Pence Overruled CDC Director on Cruise Ship Ban Meant to Stop COVID-19: Report

When the doctor pushed to extend the ban into February 2021 to further slow the new coronavirus, the White House said no.

The White House overruled the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a request to keep a ban on cruises in effect into 2021, Axios reports. During a Situation Room meeting Tuesday, Dr. Robert Redfield pushed for the United States’ “no-sail order,” implemented in March, to remain in place until at least February 2021. The vacation vessels were the sites of some of the first and most virulent outbreaks of the new coronavirus, and the moratorium on cruise voyages is set to expire Wednesday. Vice President Mike Pence, head of the White House coronavirus task force, reportedly refused Redfield, however, and said the ban would now expire Oct. 31, the same day as the industry’s self-imposed quarantine will end.