COVID conditions force cancellation of December meeting; AMO Executive Board planning virtual monthly sessions as health experts forecast persistent pandemic

Resurgent COVID-19 contagion in South Florida and nationwide has forced the AMO Executive Board to cancel the regularly scheduled AMO membership meeting at headquarters in Dania Beach on December 7.

Florida this week joined Texas and California as the only states so far to report one million coronavirus cases since the outbreak early this year. Florida on December 2 confirmed nearly 10,000 new cases and 97 fatalities in a single day, bringing the state's death toll at that point to 18,776 residents and 236 visitors.

South Florida's Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties each reported additional cases and startling positivity rates resulting from daily testing.

In Broward - which includes Dania Beach - 1,035 confirmed additional cases were reported, bringing the total since March 2020 to 109,360 cases and 1,673 deaths. The Broward County positivity rate increased from 7.11 percent to 8.67 percent.

Municipal restrictions in Dania Beach prohibit gatherings of 10 or more when the positivity rate is above 5 percent.

In addition, travel restrictions in many states where AMO members reside require individuals to quarantine upon arrival from Florida.

The AMO Executive Board is now planning virtual membership meetings beginning in January 2021, with the focus on security and confidentiality. The intent is to preclude or at least limit intrusive, disruptive interference from interests outside of American Maritime Officers.

One potential approach would be to require AMO members to register in advance for each meeting by providing their names, book numbers and documentation confirming "good standing" with timely payment of membership dues directly to AMO, through authorized dues deductions from AMO Vacation Plan benefits or online. Calls for registration would circulate well in advance of each meeting date.

We also know that, if successful during the coronavirus crisis, virtual meetings would likely become a permanent feature, even when in-person meetings can be held safely at headquarters - many more AMO members would have the opportunity to participate each month from their homes or from their vessels.

Meanwhile, our union's vessel boarding reps continue to visit AMO members at work to get important information out while complying with health and safety protocols in the deep-sea, Great Lakes and inland waters fleets. AMO officials in Dania Beach and in Washington continue to address the personal and professional consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on the seagoing AMO membership - "gangway up," restricted to ship, unanticipated extension of vessel employment time and easing timely relief in the U.S. and overseas.

Since the COVID-19 national health emergency was declared in March 2020, this administration's priority has been to prevent or at least minimize infection among AMO members and within their families. This priority stands, and we are grateful to the seagoing AMO membership for their patience, understanding and cooperation.

We ask again that everyone in AMO offer moral support to AMO members who have endured missed milestones at home through no fault of their own or who have had to provide financial support to family members whose jobs or small businesses were lost to the COVID-19 economy.

As always, we welcome your comments, questions and personal and professional perspectives.

Paul Doell
December 4, 2020