b'COVID NEWS:Federal Government Issues Mask-Wearing Mandate for Passenger VesselsP assenger vessel operators must require passengers and crewrequirement; this may include advance notice by means wear face masks to deter the spread of coronavirus and mustof apps, websites, and email; posted signs; and notice on exert best efforts to obtain compliance. printed tickets.This mandate comes from an Order issued on January 29, 2020, byUndercertaincircumstances,theOrderexcusesapersonfor the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).It is entitledcomplying with the mask-wearing requirements.These include:Requirements for Persons to Wear Masks While on Conveyances and at Transportation Hubs.Click HERE for a copy of the document. While eating, drinking, or taking medication, for brief periods;TheOrderappliestoalltypesoftransportationconveyances, including commercial air carriers, trains, busses, mass transit, andWhile communicating with a person who is hearing-vessels.The definition of the term vessel includes any passenger- impaired, when the ability to see the mouth is essential for carryingvessel(See 42 CFR 70.1).Therefore, the CDC Ordercommunication.applies to subchapter H, K, and T vessels, regardless of their type of service (ferry, sightseeing, dinner cruise, overnight cruise, etc.), thatThe Order also specifies certain categories of persons are exempt operate on international, interstate, and intrastate waterways subjectfrom the mask-wearing requirement, including:to the jurisdiction of the United States.A child under the age of two, andThe Order contains the following requirements:A person with a disability who cannot wear a mask, or Persons must wear masks over the mouth and nose whencannot safety wear a mask, because of the disability, as traveling on conveyances, including passenger vessels.Personsdefined by the Americans with Disabilities Act.must also wear masks at transportation hubs (for example, vessel terminals). As part of its lengthy justification for the Order, CDC explains MaskshelppreventpersonswhohaveCOVID-19,including Aconveyanceoperator,includingapassengervesselthose that are pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic, from spreading operator, transporting persons into and within the Unitedthe virus to others.Masks are primarily intended to reduce the States must require all persons onboard to wear masks for theemission of virus-laden droplets, i.e., they act as source control duration of travel. blocking exhaled virus.This is especially relevant for asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic wearers who feel well and may be unaware of Conveyanceoperators,includingapassengervesseltheir infectiousness to others and who are estimated to account for operator, must use best efforts to ensure that any personover 50% of transmissions.Masks also provide personal protection onboard wears a mask when boarding, disembarking, and forfor the wearer by reducing inhalation of these droplets, i.e., they the duration of travel. reduce wearers exposure through filtration.TheOrdergivesexamplesofwhatbesteffortsentail,TheCDCreservestherighttoenforcethepolicybymeans including: ofcriminalpenalties,butstatesthatithopesthatvoluntary Boarding only those passengers wearing face masks. compliancewillbesufficientlywidespreadtomakesuch enforcement unnecessaryInstructing passengers that federal law requires the wearing of face masks while on the vessel and that refusing to do soPresident Joe Biden issued Executive Order 13998 (Promoting constitutes a violation of federal law. COVID-19SafetyinDomesticandInternationalTravel)on January 21, 2020.The CDC Order represents a response to the Monitoring face mask usage of passengers on board andExecutive Order.seeking compliance from those not wearing a mask.In addition, the U.S. Coast Guard is expected to issue a Maritime At the earliest opportunity, disembarking a person who failsSafety Information Bulletin on this subject in the next few days. to comply. PVA has already shared with the Coast Guard observations about the challenges involved with a mask mandate, including those that Providing prominent and adequate notice of the face maskwill be faced by operators of dinner cruises.FEB 2021 35 COVID NEWS'