I’ve flown (wearing KN95 mask) several times since being vaccinated and feel safe doing so. Most flights were 2 hours, some with a connection between. More folks were masked in the airport than I see in our community. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly domestically in January, assuming no major pandemic change.
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I’m in Europe this week for a post-Thanksgiving business trip. It’s difficult dealing with the shifting regulations. France is fine, didn’t even ask for my vaccination card and other data at immigration. The UK now requires self-isolation until a negative PCR test, but fortunately after a lot of trouble I found somewhere that guarantees same day results, albeit at a premium price. Looks like we’ll need to do that when we go back to the UK for Christmas as well.
I have to admit all the testing, finding testing, learning testing rules/routines for different countries, testing expense - all of it - turns me off to any thought of traveling!!!
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You got lucky in France. Been running around Germany, France, Spain and Switzerland for a few weeks. France took our EC Covid QR Code and entry form. People with CDC cards were having issues. Was also required at most hotels in to check in. Things are changing quick! Highly recommend getting the EC QR Code to simplify things.
Yes that’s the next thing to do. Seems like lots of pharmacies are now offering the conversion. Arriving at a deserted CDG at 11.30pm definitely helped as the immigration officer clearly just wanted to go home.
WaPo is reporting that US is about to impose new travel rules on all passengers arriving from abroad. The new rules may include: a) Covid test within 1 day of departure; b) additional test within 3-5 days of arrival; and c) self-quarantine upon arrival for 7 days.
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Just heard the same. 7 day quarantine?!
No self quarantine according to this article- not for US citizens. Post arrival test - yes.
“ A mandatory quarantine for US citizens returning home is not under consideration, according to a White House official.”
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Border closures are spreading.
Japan closed its borders to new arrivals of foreigners from Tuesday and requires citizens and foreigners with resident status returning from high-risk areas to spend up to 10 days of their 14-day isolation periods in a government-designated facility.
Just updating to note that getting the European COVID certificate in France was incredibly easy, I walked into a pharmacy and showed my vaccination card and passport then it took less than 10 mins and cost 36 Euros. Everything in France is working well once you have that certificate, restaurants check your pass and are pretty full.
Next onto the UK, I have a same day PCR test which should minimize any need for self-isolation, but was quite costly (89 pounds). It’s going to make any visit to the UK pretty irritating and costly and may be in place for several months.
And then return to the US seems like a moving target as noted above, looks like I’ll need to shift my return (rapid) test to the day before flying. I’m glad that the suggestion of quarantine is being damped down, that would really screw up any international travel.
It doesn’t look to me like post-arrival testing will necessarily be easy to do on anything other than a voluntary basis, since there’s no obvious system to use for reporting results. We were already handed a post-arrival test at the airport earlier in the fall, but all on a voluntary basis run by our local health department. I do worry that some local health departments might try to impose stricter rules on travelers.
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American citizens and permanent residents will be able to return to the States, as long as they are not infected.
The problem is if you are not an American or a permanent resident, and if you should go back home (like a foreign student), you may not be able to return.
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This was released.
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I don’t think a test upon arrival accomplishes much. A test right after arrival combined with a test 5-7 days after arrival does. In the meantime, a person with a negative test upon arrival who then develops COVID from, say, exposure in the airport or just before departure, has several days to spread it, so I think people should make an effort to quarantine or limit contacts if at all possible. But of course that won’t happen.
Testing before getting a plane or train makes sense because for that day, regardless of whether you are infected, you are probably not contagious if the test is negative
It provides the CDC with a sample that can be sequenced for surveillance purposes. Can’t find the article quickly, so for now it is just my word that their director said that they sequence about 1/7 of all PCR-positive samples.
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I believe she misspoke. According to this article from 2 days ago,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-11-29/omicron-tests-biden-s-1-7-billion-plan-to-better-track-variants
the percentage sequenced is about 5.5% over the past 3 months. Another article I read yesterday said the number was below 7%, well below a number of other developed countries.
I believe she was taking about past weeks. Sequencing will be ramped up, no questions. The CDC alone sequenced 70,000 PCR-positive samples last week (per Bloomberg link above), and the other labs sequenced 20,000. Matches the numbers I saw.
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But there should be a follow up test 5-7 days later.
Easier said than done. Unless we start keeping people in special quarantine housing immediately after arrival for a couple of weeks (like it is done in Australia) or have a system in place that those who don’t test let’s say 5 days after arrival will get fined big or arrested… we know this is not going to happen.
ETA: sample collection upon arrival is fast, easy, and no one can weasel out of it. I personally went through this routine once on the Big Island when they were doing arrival surveillance. Sample collection 3-5 days after arrival is like herding cats.
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First Omicron case confirmed in the US:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/01/health/us-omicron-variant-confirmed-case/index.html
When we flew to French Polynesia in May we had to show proof of vaccine, negative PCR test before departure. On arrival we were tested at the airport. We were given a self test that had to be turned in on Day 4. Not sure what the procedure is now. It made us feel pretty confident that the people on the flight were likely Covid free.
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