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The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure opened an investigation into Carnival Corp.’s response to the to the coronavirus pandemic.

The committee said that among the information it is looking for are “decisions the company made regarding the health and safety of its passengers and crew amid the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The committee said in a statement that its chairs, Peter DeFazio (D-OR) and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), “initiated a records request regarding the response of the Carnival Corp. and its nine affiliated cruise lines to the coronavirus pandemic” and sent letters requesting relevant documents to Carnival, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Coast Guard.

In a letter to Carnival Corp. CEO Arnold Donald, the committee said that DeFazio and Maloney expressed concerns that Carnival is publicly failing to “appropriately acknowledge public health concerns.”

“While cruises are often viewed as a carefree escape from reality where passengers can dine, dance, relax, and mingle, we would hope that the reality of the Covid-19 pandemic will place a renewed emphasis on public health and passenger safety, but frankly that has not been seen up to this point,” the letter said. “In fact, it seems as though Carnival Corp … is still trying to sell this cruise line fantasy and ignoring the public health threat posed by coronavirus to potential future passengers and crew.”

The letter cites recent media reports that “have called into question Carnival’s commitment” to protect the health of its passengers and crew.

Source: travelweekly.com