22 September 2021- New York – Future Care CEO Christina DeSimone and Wellstand Health CEO Dr. Anthony Napolitano announced a strategic partnership to provide Future Care’s clients the best in class end-to-end COVID-19 testing solutions. The direct partnership between Future Care and Wellstand Health will provide Future Care’s commercial shipowners, cruise operators, and P&I Club clients with access to affordable, reliable and scalable COVID-19 testing technology.
The offering will include rapid tests, lab-based PCR tests, variant identification and tracking tests, and antibody tests, along with access to Wellstand’s consultative services. The partnership will ensure that Captains, Crew, Vendors, and Guests will have renewed confidence in the safety of the shipboard environment from the first step onboard through arrival, with minimal disruption in operations or travel.
DeSimone emphasized, “The risk of COVID transmission is uniquely complicated for the maritime industry. Each phase of a single voyage — starting even before boarding the ship and continuing after departure — introduces exponentially increased opportunity for exposure to crew, passengers, vendors, and local port communities. Given the variability in length of voyage, number of crew and passengers and infection rates, vaccination status and overall health care systems at each port, we are gratified to be offering our clients flexible testing programs that can be easily and immediately adapted based on the risk profile of each voyage.”
According to Napolitano, “This announcement comes as new variants, such as Delta and Mu, affect communities worldwide and the need for safe and reliable COVID-19 testing is more important than ever. Wellstand Health continues to advocate for affordable and easily accessible COVID-19 testing programs across all markets, including the maritime community which needs an extremely fluid approach for mitigating risk and maintaining safety standards. There are simply too many variables for a one-size fits all approach. We are excited to provide Future Care and their clients with solutions that can be right-sized for each journey while keeping crew, passengers and communities safe.”