Royal Caribbean has rolled out a contact tracing wristband that cruise ship passengers, both guests and crew, are required to wear while on the ship.
The contact tracing wristband is known as Tracelet and was created thanks to a partnership between Royal Caribbean and TraceSafe.
The data collected by Tracelet can only be accessed by the cruise ship's staff. Royal Caribbean assures guests that the data will be deleted 24 days after the end of a guest's cruise.
Royal Caribbean's Contact Tracing Wristband
Royal Caribbean, the cruise line that owns the Symphony of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world, has rolled out a contract tracing wristband called Tracelet.
According to the Royal Caribbean website, the Tracelet "is a comfortable, water-resistant, hypoallergenic wearable worn by all guests and crew during the cruise." Guests who refuse to wear the Tracelet will not be allowed to sail.
As to why it is mandatory for everyone to wear it, Royal Caribbean says that the wearable "helps us with contact tracing in the unlikely event of an onboard health concern."
The Tracelet is not just used for contact tracing. According to a report by MobiHealthNews, the wearable can also be used as a room key or as a payment method on the ship.
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Data That the Tracelet Collects
According to a separate post on the Royal Caribbean website, the contact tracing wristband tells the company "how close you've come to people who have been identified as COVID-19 risks and how long you were near them."
Data collected by Tracelet can be accessed only by the staff and will be deleted 24 days after the end of a guest's cruise.
Cruises and COVID-19
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cruise ship travel is at Level 3 as far as COVID-19 risks are concerned. Level 4 is the highest risk classification of the CDC.
"The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters aboard ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high," according to the CDC.
CDC recommends that people who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 should avoid going on cruises. It also recommends that those "with an increased risk of severe illness" should likewise avoid cruise ship travel.
Last year, several cruises had to quarantine their passengers for long periods of time as COVID-19 rampaged throughout the world. Many have shared their COVID-19 experiences online, including a couple who were passengers of the Diamond Princess and tested positive for COVID-19.
While many quarantined passengers were eager to go home, other passengers thought they were having the best cruise of their lives as they quarantined on cruise ships. This was mostly due to the fact that they were provided free food and internet, among other things.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Isabella James
