Dr Stephen Ostrov, a former acting commissioner for the Food and Drug Administration who works for the Health Cell Group, said they recommended that cruise passengers be tested before reaching the ship, and then again before boarding the plane.

“The one thing you want to make sure of is that the virus is not getting there in the first place,” said Dr. Ostrov.

Dr Ostrov admitted that passengers exposed to the virus on the way to the ship would not necessarily be negative, but could be contagious. He also said that the group’s other recommendations, such as allowing fewer passengers, requiring the wearing of masks, and installing improved air-purification systems, aim to limit the spread of the virus on board a ship if the passengers on board are infected.

Brian Morgenstern, the deputy White House press secretary, denied that the administration’s plans for cruise ships were politically motivated. “The president, vice president and the working team are following the science and data to implement policies that protect public health and also facilitate the safe re-opening of our country,” he said.

Dr. Redfield is in a tight spot after weeks of public confrontations with the White House.

On Friday, he told a colleague he was concerned that Dr. Scott W. Atlas, one of Mr. Trump’s senior advisers on the Coronavirus, was providing the president with misinformation, according to a NBC reporter. He overheard Dr. Redfield’s phone conversation On a commercial airliner.

The incident came after Mr Trump reprimanded the director earlier this month, following Dr. Redfield Tested at the Senate hearing That the vaccine will not be widely available until the middle of next year and that masks may be more important than the vaccine to limit the spread of the virus. Mr. Trump told reporters later that day that he believed the director had “made a mistake.” The president claimed that the vaccine would “be passed on to the general public immediately,” and “would not be delayed under any circumstances as the doctor said.”

The CDC under Dr. Redfield has received severe criticism from scientists over its handling of the pandemic, starting with Failed rollout of test kits Last spring. This month, the New York Times reported that they have health department political appointees I paid through CDC guidelines – Despite the objections of the agency’s scientists – saying that people who do not have symptoms do not need to be tested for Corona virus, even if they have been in close contact with an infected person. The agency then updated these guidelines to recommend testing, in line with public health experts.