Covid And The Rest of Us

[jamescanuck2001]

The USA would do well to ban UK travellers. They won't, though.

 

[BadPinkTink]

The USA would do well to ban UK travellers. They won't, though.

The USA already bans UK travelers. There was a Presidential Executive Order signed in March which bans citizens from UK, Ireland and other European countries from entering USA. It is being worked on at the moment and it is very likely it will be removed by January.

 

[ronandannette]

The USA already bans UK travelers. There was a Presidential Executive Order signed in March which bans citizens from UK, Ireland and other European countries from entering USA. It is being worked on at the moment and it is very likely it will be removed by January.

If and when it is, will you travel? Are Irish citizens (or EU citizens in general) free of restrictions to travel and return home? Canada is under a world-wide travel advisory to avoid all non-essential travel and must quarantine upon return home.

 

[BadPinkTink]

If and when it is, will you travel? Are Irish citizens (or EU citizens in general) free of restrictions to travel and return home? Canada is under a world-wide travel advisory to avoid all non-essential travel and must quarantine upon return home.

I still need the Irish Government to remove the travel restrictions to USA. The Irish Government currently say no non essential travel to USA. If I travel before this is changed then my travel and medical insurance becomes void. Before Covid I had booked flights to LAX for June 2020. Since June I have been "walking" my fights every few months, as the airline cancels flights and extends their no fee to change dates policy. Currently I have flights booked for March. I will just keep "walking" the flights until both the USA Executive Order is reversed and the Irish Government change the advice. As soon as that happens I will be on the plane to California.

The EU have a colour coded travel plan for the 26 countries. The UK is included on this plan until December 31 when Beit happens. After that they will be treated the same as USA.
I have been updating this tread in the cruise section with information about travel in Europe https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...ean-2021-cruises-updated-december-10.3818455/

The UK and Ireland did not ban USA travelers like other European countries but there is a mandatory 14 day quarantine

 

[ronandannette]

I still need the Irish Government to remove the travel restrictions to USA. The Irish Government currently say no non essential travel to USA. If I travel before this is changed then my travel and medical insurance becomes void. Before Covid I had booked flights to LAX for June 2020. Since June I have been "walking" my fights every few months, as the airline cancels flights and extends their no fee to change dates policy. Currently I have flights booked for March. I will just keep "walking" the flights until both the USA Executive Order is reversed and the Irish Government change the advice. As soon as that happens I will be on the plane to California.

The EU have a colour coded travel plan for the 26 countries. The UK is included on this plan until December 31 when Beit happens. After that they will be treated the same as USA.
I have been updating this tread in the cruise section with information about travel in Europe https://www.disboards.com/threads/e...ean-2021-cruises-updated-december-10.3818455/

The UK and Ireland did not ban USA travelers like other European countries but there is a mandatory 14 day quarantine

Is that with the assumption that removal the restrictions will mean things are open and it's worth even bothering going to California for a vacation? If it happens in January will you be comfortable enough with the Covid situation to go?

We would love, love, love a vacation and if official restrictions lifted far enough to allow it, there are some places we'd consider going - next week if it were possible. But that would only be under the conditions that local travel, accommodation, sight-seeing and activities were in full swing at our destination otherwise it would just be a huge waste of money.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Is that with the assumption that removal the restrictions will mean things are open and it's worth even bothering going to California for a vacation? If it happens in January will you be comfortable enough with the Covid situation to go?

We would love, love, love a vacation and if official restrictions lifted far enough to allow it, there are some places we'd consider going - next week if it were possible. But that would only be under the conditions that local travel, accommodation, sight-seeing and activities were in full swing at our destination otherwise it would just be a huge waste of money.

I wont be going in January, the earliest will be March. I'm not expecting Disneyland to be open by March. I have visited LA every year for 10 years and I have friends who live there. When I go to LA its more about visiting my friends and going to my favorite places, not so much about doing touristy things. So for me, yes, just being about to get on a plane, travel to LA, stay in a hotel, see my friends and go to the beach is worth it to me.

 

[BadPinkTink]

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hea...ain-in-response-to-new-virus-strain-1.4442011
The Irish Government has imposed a 48-hour ban on non-essential travel from Britain from midnight Sunday 20th December in response to a fast spreading new Covid-19 variant that has emerged in England.

The ban applies to intending passengers on flights and ferries. No ban or travel restrictions will apply to travel between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

 

[Karin1984]

Also Italy, Germany and Belgium have implemented a travel ban to/from the UK by plane. France is still contemplating.
The ferries between NL and the UK are fully booked for the next few days.

The new mutation is probably already here in NL and the cause of the rise in infections (last few days between 12-13K new infections)

Germany has also put South Africa on the list of travel bans as SA is also dealing with a very quickly-spreading mutation (mainly among young people)

 

[jamescanuck2001]

The new mutation is why I posted what I did. It would be crazy for the USA to open travel from UK and EU and allow the new variant in.

 

[mrs. magoo]

The new mutation is why I posted what I did. It would be crazy for the USA to open travel from UK and EU and allow the new variant in.

If you think that new mutation is not already here in the US, then you are poorly informed. This has been talked about for at least 3 months and it would explain the numbers we have as well. In my county we are averaging 650 cases a day(our total population is 800,000) for the last 2 weeks. We have good masking in public places but still it continues to spread. My sister in law is down with it but it does not seem to be as bad in terms of symptoms as it was in the Spring. One interesting note is my daughter is friends with many nurses and her two housemates had covid at Halloween time. They were eligible for the vaccine but can not get it for at least 90 days since they had covid.

 

[ronandannette]

If you think that new mutation is not already here in the US, then you are poorly informed. This has been talked about for at least 3 months and it would explain the numbers we have as well. In my county we are averaging 650 cases a day(our total population is 800,000) for the last 2 weeks. We have good masking in public places but still it continues to spread. My sister in law is down with it but it does not seem to be as bad in terms of symptoms as it was in the Spring. One interesting note is my daughter is friends with many nurses and her two housemates had covid at Halloween time. They were eligible for the vaccine but can not get it for at least 90 days since they had covid.

Oh my, what a relief. I will have to do some further research to come right up to speed but yes, there was fairly extensive reporting earlier in the fall that variant(s) were showing up - and they/it seemed to be more easily transmissible but caused less sever disease. AND if I remember correctly, there was no mention of it being impervious to the vaccines. I will be extremely happy if the UK variant is the same one. I was freaking out there a little bit for a minute...

 

[dvcgirl67]

If you think that new mutation is not already here in the US, then you are poorly informed. This has been talked about for at least 3 months and it would explain the numbers we have as well. In my county we are averaging 650 cases a day(our total population is 800,000) for the last 2 weeks. We have good masking in public places but still it continues to spread. My sister in law is down with it but it does not seem to be as bad in terms of symptoms as it was in the Spring. One interesting note is my daughter is friends with many nurses and her two housemates had covid at Halloween time. They were eligible for the vaccine but can not get it for at least 90 days since they had covid.

I mean, I wouldn't even be mildly surprised at all if the new strain is here, but our government officials are out today saying that it's not....that they're "watching it".....and on UK-US travel....they're "watching that" too. So...it's all good...lol! The pandemic is raging much worse here in the U.S. than it is in the U.K....even with the new strain factored in over in the U.K. And what does it matter? The national plan here is to essentially do nothing as far as mitigation. Vaccination is their plan...until then, it's every man for himself.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I mean, I wouldn't even be mildly surprised at all if the new strain is here, but our government officials are out today saying that it's not....that they're "watching it".....and on UK-US travel....they're "watching that" too. So...it's all good...lol! The pandemic is raging much worse here in the U.S. than it is in the U.K....even with the new strain factored in over in the U.K. And what does it matter? The national plan here is to essentially do nothing as far as mitigation. Vaccination is their plan...until then, it's every man for himself.

But there actually was a mutation found earlier that appeared to be more infectious. I distinctly remember TX (Houston? Dallas? I can't remember the city) where genome sequencing found that like 80% (or more can't remember the precise details) of their newer cases from X point to Y point (Y meaning that present moment in time back then) had this seemingly more infectious strain. Was it the D or G strain? Anywho it really really really does matter. Sometimes we need to just stop with the whole "U.S. is doing awful other countries are doing better" and actually look at the information. We need to know what strains and mutations are out there. Even if you feel like who cares well science does because mitigation factors are only as good as your ability to prevent and you know mitigate spread. A more infectious strain will strain whatever strategies you employ and may make you deploy different ones. In the UK I doubt they are sitting there saying "well we have this strain but why does it matter?"

 

[dvcgirl67]

But there actually was a mutation found earlier that appeared to be more infectious. I distinctly remember TX (Houston? Dallas? I can't remember the city) where genome sequencing found that like 80% (or more can't remember the precise details) of their newer cases from X point to Y point (Y meaning that present moment in time back then) had this seemingly more infectious strain. Was the the D or G strain? Anywho it really really really does matter. Sometimes we need to just stop with the whole "U.S. is doing awful other countries are doing better" and actually look at the information. We need to know what strains and mutations are out there. Even if you feel like who cares well science does because mitigation factors are only as good as your ability to prevent and you know mitigate spread. A more infectious strain will strain whatever strategies you employ and may make you deploy different ones. In the UK I doubt they are sitting there saying "well we have this strain but why does it matter?"

Oh, I do think it matters...big time. I understand that it matters from a scientific standpoint too. I get that. I know that the virus will continue to mutate, and we have to worry about vaccine escape and all of that. I was really just referring to the government officials who are managing the pandemic here....that they're "watching" the UK Strain, and "watching" with respect to whether to ban UK-US travel. What would they do if it's found that we do indeed have it here?

And yes, in the UK they are doing something about it in the short term. They're actively trying to mitigate the spread by putting very tough restrictions in place. Seriously, let me ask you this? If it was found that we have the UK strain here....what exactly will our government do with respect to mitigation? What are they doing now when we already have much more community spread than the UK does? We have what we've had since the end of April when our 15 days to stop the spread deal ended. An ad hoc/patchwork response at best.

But yes....scientists need to study and log every mutation. I read today that the scientists worry more about the mutations down the line, as the virus finds less and less hosts to infect.

 

[bcla]

If and when it is, will you travel? Are Irish citizens (or EU citizens in general) free of restrictions to travel and return home? Canada is under a world-wide travel advisory to avoid all non-essential travel and must quarantine upon return home.

It's not specifically a ban of travelers who are residents of specified countries. It's a prohibition on "aliens" who have been in those countries within the previous 14 days. So it might be possible for someone to travel to the US if they observe a "quarantine" period of at least 14 days in one or more countries not on the list. There are also exceptions. There are still several nonstop flights still scheduled between the UK and US. And American travelers to the UK are supposed to self-isolate for 10 days unless one received a negative Covid test.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/from-other-countries.html

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Oh, I do think it matters...big time. I understand that it matters from a scientific standpoint too. I get that. I know that the virus will continue to mutate, and we have to worry about vaccine escape and all of that. I was really just referring to the government officials who are managing the pandemic here....that they're "watching" the UK Strain, and "watching" with respect to whether to ban UK-US travel. What would they do if it's found that we do indeed have it here?

And yes, in the UK they are doing something about it in the short term. They're actively trying to mitigate the spread by putting very tough restrictions in place. Seriously, let me ask you this? If it was found that we have the UK strain here....what exactly will our government do with respect to mitigation? What are they doing now when we already have much more community spread than the UK does? We have what we've had since the end of April when our 15 days to stop the spread deal ended. An ad hoc/patchwork response at best.

But yes....scientists need to study and log every mutation. I read today that the scientists worry more about the mutations down the line, as the virus finds less and less hosts to infect.

I guess I've just picked up on your national plan discussion before. I realize there are times that political aspects for us in the U.S. come into play but I don't think they always need to be. I mean that for people in my daily life. I've gotten on my mom for making things political when they have zero need to be. We complain about everything being made to be political (and that's the impression others in the world have of us) only to make it political and then complain again that it's political (that's a very general statement not aimed at you personally). So to me respectfully an infectious strain in the UK in my mind is a science conversation not a U.S. political/national strategy conversation at least it doesn't have to be because it's not like I can change the way our country works still makes me interested in how this virus mutates, how it impacts various hurdles present in various parts of the world. But we absolutely can agree to disagree it's not exactly a back and forth conversation suitable for this thread anyhow (which I've tried to temper that here on this thread).

 

[jamescanuck2001]

If you think that new mutation is not already here in the US, then you are poorly informed. This has been talked about for at least 3 months and it would explain the numbers we have as well. In my county we are averaging 650 cases a day(our total population is 800,000) for the last 2 weeks. We have good masking in public places but still it continues to spread. My sister in law is down with it but it does not seem to be as bad in terms of symptoms as it was in the Spring. One interesting note is my daughter is friends with many nurses and her two housemates had covid at Halloween time. They were eligible for the vaccine but can not get it for at least 90 days since they had covid.

This is a new and more dangerous mutation, you are the poorly informed one.

 

[NFLDERS]

Again, I'm a little jealous. 5 people, heck even two other people allowed would be enough to see family and friends at Christmas. We're at absolute zero - we can't even meet others outside. And from the beginning, any restrictions imposed have been province-wide so there's no way to loop-hole it.

You don't need to envy us as we will be joining you real soon, just in time for Christmas Celebrations.

 

[FairestOfThemAll37]

This is a new and more dangerous mutation, you are the poorly informed one.

Do you have any info on this or links? I have not been able to find anything that says this is a more dangerous mutation but I’ve also been a bit off news lately so may not have been looking in the right places. Thanks.

 

[ronandannette]

This is a new and more dangerous mutation, you are the poorly informed one.

Canada halts flights from U.K. in response to new coronavirus strain (msn.com)
Turns out you're both kind of right (according to this article, at least). The UK variant has not been confirmed or disproven to be one of the variants already identified. But as for it being more dangerous - no, it has not been deemed so, in regards to outcomes, just that it's more highly transmissible.