The crew of the MV Caroline Voyager, as essential employees, are not considered by the government as equivalent to private citizens undergoing repatriation; however, the government is committed to ensuring that the return of the MV Caroline Voyager and her crew are held to the safest and most airtight standard possible.
All of the crew were tested for Covid-19 twice on Sept. 29 to Oct. 1, 2020, and again on Oct. 28 to 29, 2020, and had since been held in strict quarantine/confinement on the ship without any outside contact from Sept. 29 (a month prior) until the time of departure on Nov. 4. All crew tested negative for the virus.
It is expected that the MV Caroline Voyager will enter into the FSM on Nov. 18, 2020, where it will arrive at the pilot station outside the Pohnpei State main vessel entry channel for a medical briefing and further Covid-19 testing. The crew will then be tested again on Nov. 26, and for a final time on Dec. 3. Presuming that all crew remain Covid-19 free at that time, the crew will then be released into the community and, by extension, able to visit their friends and family before the government requires the vessel undergo its next field trip requiring their services.
