All Episodes
Previous Next
Jan. 23, 2022 - Epoch Times
18:51
6,091 Fully Vaccinated Cruise Passengers Suffer Massive Outbreak; 48 Cases Already | Facts Matter
| Copy link to current segment

Time Text
Good evening.
Two days ago, it was reported that there was another COVID outbreak onboard a cruise ship, despite the fact that all of the crew members, as well as all of the adult passengers, were fully vaccinated.
This actually makes the second such outbreak within the course of the last month.
Meanwhile, four days ago, a panel of judges, they ruled in favor of scrapping the injunction, which was blocking the vaccine mandate on private businesses.
Meaning that at this very moment, the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private companies, specifically businesses that have over 100 employees, it can take effect.
Although the battle is not over yet because the Supreme Court is taking up the fight.
In fact, just yesterday, Brett Kavanaugh, he told the Biden administration that they have until the end of December to file all of their official responses to the myriad of challenges that have come from faith organizations, from different companies, as well as from the attorney generals in about half of the states in the country.
Let's go through it all together.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. . .
This is your daily Facts Matter update, and I'm your host, Roman, from the Epoch Times.
And now let's begin today's discussion by talking about cruise ships.
More specifically, about how, for the second time within the last month, there was a COVID outbreak, despite the fact that everyone on board was fully vaccinated.
That's right.
Just two days ago, on board the world's largest cruise ship, there was a COVID outbreak among the fully vaccinated passengers.
Let me just repeat that.
48 people aboard the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas, which is again the largest cruise ship in the entire world, they tested positive for COVID despite the fact that everyone on board, all the adults, including the passengers, the crew, as well as all of the staff members, were fully vaccinated.
And yet, they still had an outbreak of 48 cases.
Here's a statement that the Royal Caribbean Company released following the discovery.
Now, the company's statement then went on to clarify that each person who tested positive for the virus, they immediately went into quarantine, except for six people who had tested positive, but then who disembarked the ship once it reached Florida, and then they were taken home.
Now, let me give you a bit of background on this whole situation.
A few months ago, back during the summer, cruise ships began to tout themselves as being the safest vacations that are currently available on the market.
And the reason that they were making such claims was because of their strict COVID guidelines.
In fact, before all the vaccine mandates sprung up across the entire country, cruise liners were already implementing such policies.
Specifically, Royal Caribbean, which is a large cruise operator, they have rules in place which dictate that if you would like to travel on any of their ships, and if you're above the age of 12, then you must be fully vaccinated and you must also have a negative COVID test prior to departing.
And then if you are below the age of 12, meaning that you are an unvaccinated child, you are required to show a negative PCR test, and then you also need to have a negative test right there at the terminal before the ship departs.
Then, in terms of the staff, all of the crew members who are on board the ship, they are not only required to be fully vaccinated, but they must also subject themselves to testing at least once a week.
And then furthermore, on top of all that, even with these strict vaccine protocols in place, the cruise ship also requires that everyone, including the staff and the passengers, they must wear masks if they are an indoor public event.
And so, essentially, you can really make the argument that between the COVID testing requirements, the vaccine requirements, and the masking requirements, this cruise ship had all of its bases covered.
And so, with all the strict rules in place, the world's largest cruise ship, which is again called the Symphony of the Seas, it left Florida with 6,091 people on board in order to go around the Caribbean for the course of a week.
And just for your reference, according to a statement from the company, they said that 95% of the people who were on board that ship were fully vaccinated, very likely meaning that the remaining 5% were young kids who tested negative prior to boarding.
And so, they left Florida on December 11th, and they stopped at several ports in the Caribbean, including St.
Martin, St.
Thomas, as well as a tiny private island called Kokoke.
However, this is where things get a little bit dicey.
That's because somewhere along this trip, one of the guests suddenly tested positive for the virus.
Then, the staff on board, they conducted contact tracing and they began testing more of the passengers.
By the time the ship made its way back to Miami, a total of 48 passengers were positive with COVID, with 98% of these people being fully vaccinated.
The CDC has confirmed that they are aware of the situation and they released a short statement saying this in part.
We are working with Royal Caribbean to gather more information about the cases and possible exposures.
And Royal Caribbean will be collecting specimens from the current voyage for genetic sequencing.
However, if you've been following the messaging from the White House, you might be a little bit confused as to how this might have happened.
Specifically, given the fact that last week, Joe Biden had two televised interviews where he made the claim that those who are fully vaccinated can no longer transmit the virus to others.
Here's specifically what he said while speaking to an Ohio-based TV station.
This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated.
Not the vaccinated, the unvaccinated.
That's the problem.
Everybody talks about freedom, about not to have a shot or have a test.
Well, guess what?
How about patriotism?
How about you make sure you're vaccinated so you do not spread the disease to anybody else?
What about that?
What's the big deal?
Then, while speaking to another TV station also in Ohio, here's what Joe Biden said once again.
Those who aren't vaccinated are the ones that continue to spread the diseases.
People should get vaccinated so you're not spreading anything else.
Which sounds well and good, except if you are a passenger aboard one of these cruise ships.
In fact, as we discussed in a previous episode, what he said in that statement is not true.
And the reason we know it's not true, well, here's what it says on the CDC's own website.
Vaccinated people can still become infected and have the potential to spread the virus to others, although at much lower rates than unvaccinated people.
And given what we are seeing play out on these cruise ships, it seems like that is indeed the case.
Now, we here at the Epoch Times, we did reach out to Royal Caribbean for comment on this latest outbreak, but we have yet to hear back.
Regardless, if you'd like to read more about what happened on this particular ship, I'll throw the link to several articles about it into the description box below this video for you to check out.
And all I ask in return is that you take a quick, quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And now, before we move on over and discuss the current status of the nationwide vaccine mandates in this country, I would like to take a super quick second and introduce our awesome sponsor for today's episode, and I will do so from the sound booth.
That's right, Roman.
The sponsor of today's episode is an awesome company called American Hartford Gold.
As I'm sure you're aware, the rate of inflation right now in this country is accelerating like crazy.
I mean, everything from the cost of Lumber, cars, houses, food, gas, everything is increasing at an accelerated pace.
However, in my opinion, what the most amazing aspect of the system is, is that you can take this money, which I actually think is as fake as monopoly money, because the Fed and the Treasury just print this out of nothing, and you can use it to buy real money from American Hartford Gold, which is gold and silver coinage.
Take a look.
This is a box that I get every single month from American Hartford Gold, sent to me, Because I believe it's a great hedge against inflation.
This is something that has had value for 5,000 years.
It's had value across the world in Russia, China, America, India.
I mean, this is the real stuff right here.
This is a beautiful, actually Canadian maple.
And this right here is some silver coinage.
I don't know if you can see how shiny and beautiful it is.
Yeah, but I just get these every single month because I believe that unfortunately the U.S. dollar will eventually fall as the global reserve currency, as sad as that is.
And I just want to hedge against those people in Washington, D.C., continuously printing our prosperity into oblivion.
And I would highly recommend that you do the same.
Go on over to the website for American Heart for Gold and consider doing business with them.
They're an awesome company.
They sponsor a program like ours, so they obviously care about the truth getting out there.
But they also have an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau.
They have a great customer support staff when you call them.
They're super friendly.
And they make the entire process super simple because not only can you get these packages here delivered directly to your doorstep, but you can call them up and set it up so that you can actually get gold and silver directly deposited into your IRA account, again, making it all super simple.
And right now they're offering a special to viewers of Facts Matter where depending on how much you buy, how much gold and silver you buy, they will throw in $1,500 worth of free silver on your first order.
So give them a call at 866-242-2352 or text Roman to 65532.
Also, I'll throw a link to their website down in the description box below.
And American Heart for Gold, thank you so much for sponsoring this episode.
Now Roman in the studio, back to you.
And now let's move on over and talk about the vaccine mandate for private businesses.
So, on a previous episode, we already discussed how a lawsuit which came out of Texas successfully challenged the vaccine mandate on private companies.
What happened was that as the case was playing itself out in court, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, they decided to issue an injunction which stopped the Biden administration from being able to actually implement their mandate.
However, that injunction was temporary, meaning that as the case is playing itself out in court, The injunction can be removed.
And that is exactly what happened.
Because after the case was transferred to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the three-judge panel, they voted, and they ultimately, in a two-to-one decision, decided to remove the injunction.
Meaning that at this very moment, the Biden administration's vaccine mandate for private businesses, specifically for companies that have over 100 employees, it can take effect, although it's about to be challenged at the Supreme Court level.
Now, what happened here was that when the case was actually transferred to the Sixth Circuit, it was assigned to a three-judge panel.
And those three judges, just for your reference, they are Judge Julia Gibbons, who was nominated to the court by George W. Bush.
There was Judge Jane Strange, who was nominated to the court by President Barack Obama.
And then there was Judge Joan Larson, who was nominated to the court by President Trump.
And upon receiving the case, the three-judge panel voted, and they voted two to one in favor of repealing the injunction.
And for your reference, the judges nominated by Bush and Obama voted in favor of repealing the injunction, while the judge who was nominated by President Trump voted against it.
And so what this means in practice is that at this very moment, OSHA, which I should have mentioned earlier in case you're not aware, it stands for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, they are now able to reimpose their vaccine mandate on private businesses.
Meaning that if OSHA reimposes this mandate, then any businesses here in America with over 100 employees would be forced to either mandate vaccinations among their workforce or to require that their employees submit weekly COVID testing at their own expense.
And any business that refuses to comply with these mandates, they will be slapped with heavy fines going all the way up to $14,000 per violation.
Now, in justifying why exactly they are reinstating this mandate, Here's what Judge Gibbons wrote in the majority opinion.
Given OSHA's clear and exercised authority to regulate viruses, OSHA necessarily has the authority to regulate infectious diseases that are not unique to the workplace.
Indeed, no virus, HIV, HPV, COVID-19, is unique to the workplace and affects only workers.
And courts have upheld OSHA's authority to regulate hazards that coexist in the workplace and in society, but are at heightened risk in the workplace.
On the flip side, however, George Larson, who was again nominated by President Trump, she wrote a dissenting opinion saying that Congress did not authorize OSHA to create such a rule and therefore they are overstepping their authority.
Here's specifically what she wrote.
The purpose of the mandate is to protect unvaccinated people.
The rule's premise is that vaccines work.
And so OSHA has explained that the rule is not about protecting the vaccinated.
They do not face grave danger from working with those who are not vaccinated.
A multitude of petitioners, individuals, businesses, labor unions, and state governments have levied serious and varied charges against the mandate's legality.
They say, for example, that the mandate violates the non-delegation doctrine, the Commerce Clause, the substance of due process.
Some say that it violates their constitutionally protected religious liberties and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993.
To live the stay by the Fifth Circuit entirely, we would have to conclude that not one of these challenges is likely to succeed.
A tall task.
Regardless, though, she was outnumbered 2-1 and the vote passed.
And after it did, here's what Ms.
Leslie Rutledge, who is both the Attorney General of Arkansas as well as a party to this lawsuit, here's what she wrote regarding this ruling.
The Sixth Circuit's decision is extremely disappointing for Arkansons because it will force them to get the shot or lose their jobs.
Likewise, Mr.
Allen Wilson, who is the Attorney General of South Carolina, he also expressed his disappointment with this particular ruling.
Here's what he said.
We are confident the mandate can be stopped.
We will go immediately to the Supreme Court, the highest court in the land, to fight this unconstitutional and illegal mandate.
The law must be followed and federal abuse of power stopped.
Now the story here is not over, because as we've mentioned in several previous episodes, no matter who won at the appellate level, this case was always destined to make it to the Supreme Court, just based on the broad scope of the issues that are involved.
And that is exactly what is happening here.
Because just yesterday, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, he told the Biden administration that they have until the end of December to file all of their official responses to the myriad of challenges that have come up against the vaccine mandate.
That's right.
Brett Kavanaugh, who was of course nominated to the Supreme Court by President Trump, he gave the Biden administration a concrete deadline of 4 p.m.
on December the 30th to submit all of their responses.
And that date, the reason it's significant is because December the 30th is just a few days shy of the OSHA deadline for when businesses would actually have to implement this mandate, which for your reference would be January the 4th, Although they recently came out in a statement and said that it would actually be January the 10th, but still just a few days away.
And so potentially, what might happen is that the Supreme Court, once they receive all the documents, they would issue a new injunction that would last until the conclusion of the actual legal proceedings.
Although, as to whether that is what they'll actually do or not, we'll just have to wait and see.
Although, here at the Epoch Times, we did reach out to several organizations who are parties to the lawsuit against the Biden administration, and they expressed some relief that this lawsuit is finally seeing its day in the nation's highest court.
For instance, here's what the managing attorney over at the Liberty Justice Center told us via email.
This case is finally where it belongs, the Supreme Court.
OSHA has threatened to start punishing employers like our clients starting on January the 10th, and we're grateful the court has ordered a briefing schedule that will allow for resolution of our petition before that deadline.
And then likewise, another lawyer for the Alliance Defending Freedom, he added this, We're very pleased with Justice Kavanaugh's quick response and are confident that the court will act quickly to ensure legal predictability before the deadline.
Now, the reason that Judge Kavanaugh is the one who's actually handling this matter is because the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is under his jurisdiction.
And so, once they issued their ruling, and all the challenges to that ruling began to come in, they were all directed to him.
And there were many challenges indeed, including from the Word of God Fellowship, the Heritage Foundation, the Attorney General of Ohio, BST Holding Company, the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and the list goes on.
And what these challengers are arguing is that without an injunction, they will be irreparably harmed by this court ruling.
For instance, here's what the lawyer for Alliance Defending Freedom, here's what he wrote in one of his documents.
South Dakota and Florida public schools are not subject to the mandate and could attract teachers away from religious private schools.
With the idea being that if this rule is allowed to go into effect, but then the court later decides maybe half a year from now that the rule was actually unconstitutional, well then the damage would already be done.
And so, again, we will just have to wait and see what the Supreme Court will ultimately decide to do once they finish examining these documents.
And if they decide that the plaintiffs have a legitimate chance of victory, then they will likely issue the injunction.
But again, only time will tell.
If you'd like to read more about this particular story, about either what happened at the Sixth Circuit or what's happening now at the U.S. Supreme Court, I'll throw several links to several articles into the description box below this video so you can check them out for yourself.
And I'll ask in return is that if you haven't already, take a quick, quick moment to smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
And now, since you've completed this episode of Facts Matter, I would highly recommend that you go on over to Epic TV and check out an awesome new show.
It's called A Good Cop.
I've been watching myself.
I'm on episode three now, and it's good.
It's an original series, and it's about a young...
Well, it's about several things, but one of the main characters is a young woman who used to be very anti-police.
She used to be going to these rallies for, you know, the defund the police movement, but she had a life-changing experience, And actually became an NYPD officer herself.
Here's a trailer for the pilot.
Raise your right hand and repeat after me.
I think you'd make a good cop.
No, I would not.
I just applied to join the NYPD. I mean, why?
You are always the person who's talking about tolerance.
This is not tolerance, Liz.
This is betrayal.
How do you feel about catching officers?
Once you cross the line, you're no longer an officer.
You're a criminal.
Just like that.
Black and white.
Where are you going with this?
Are you okay?
Oh, this.
Uh, yeah, just this drug dealer tried to jump me at work today.
It's no big deal.
Are you a cop?
Yes, ma'am.
Say you come across hard evidence that would be catastrophic to some really powerful people, and now they're threatening you.
What would you do?
Send them a message not to mess with the NYPD. Can you promise me, if things get too dangerous, you'll quit?
If I feel I can't handle things anymore, then yes, I'll put my papers in.
New York will descend into the anarchy of the 70s if we're not careful.
The last thing we need is to defund the police.
We're in here!
Police!
NYPD! If you want to check out that awesome show as well as all the other phenomenal content over on Epic TV, I'll throw a link to it.
It'll be right there at the very top of the description box.
I hope you click on it.
I hope you check it out.
I hope you subscribe.
And I hope that you join us on this journey of exploring this beautiful, beautiful world through honest journalism that is based in truth and tradition.
Now lastly, if you haven't already, smash that like button for the YouTube algorithm.
Subscribe to this YouTube channel if you haven't already in order to get this type of honest news content delivered directly into your YouTube feed while YouTube still allows it.
Also consider hitting that notification bell so you can actually be notified of any new videos as we release them.
And then lastly, if you have a Rumble account, consider following our channel over on Rumble, Facts Matter with Roman Balmakoff, same name as it is here.
Just in case anything ever happens here on YouTube, you will be able to find our publicly available videos on Rumble.
Again, just in case.
Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.
Until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times.
▲
Export Selection