As expected, European travel restrictions are returning as COVID-19 cases continue to surge in the USA. The United States is one of five nations targeted for new travel curbs by the European Union, which includes the suspension of nonessential travel. But the new EU order does leave some hope vaccinated travelers will be spared.
As COVID-19 Cases Surge, European Union Expected To Propose New Restrictions On American Travelers
With the backdrop of a disturbing rise in case numbers and vaccine hesitancy leading to more severe cases in the USA, European Union leaders reviewed its list of “safe” nations last week. This afternoon, the EU announced the USA had not made the cut, which focuses on two areas:
- Case numbers
- Reciprocity considerations
By both metrics, the USA fails. Case numbers have spiked to over 150,000 per day, with the trend on the upswing, not decline. Furthermore, the ratio of positive tests versus total tests taken is narrowing, an alarming figure that EU authorities also consider when making a determination.
The second metric is reciprocity, an issue that continues to frustrate EU leaders who have not been able to convince the Biden Administration to lift U.S. travel restrictions for residents of the 26-member Schengen nation block as well as the Republic of Ireland.
European Union member states view the current U.S. rules as absurd, rewarding some nations and punishing others without reference to actual case numbers or vaccine progress. View From The Wing noted a statement from American Airlines CEO Doug Parker made during a recent New York Times interview that I also found incredibly revealing:
“We had a consultant come in, she’s from Munich. She, in order to get to the United States, flew to Cancun for two weeks, and then she was allowed to enter. She was a lot safer in Munich than she was in Cancun. But that’s what we’re doing.”
As Europeans grow weary of what they deem a non-sensical system, entry restrictions may return in part driven by this lack of proportionality.
Consequently, the European Union updated its list of of epidemiologically safe countries, a move that will result in restrictions on non-essential travelers from the United States. Five other nations will face similar entry restrictions, including:
- Kosovo
- Israel
- Lebanon
- Montenegro
- North Macedonia
However, the EU order leaves hope that individual member states will exempt vaccinated travelers from the non-essential travel ban. The order leaves open “the possibility for member states to lift the temporary restriction on nonessential travel…for fully vaccinated travelers.”
The entire EU order is only a recommendation. It will now be up to each member state to adapt its own policies concerning American travelers. With summer travel still in progress, an entry ban or harsher entry restrictions in some or all nations might well only come into effect in September (Germany, for example, has already cracked down on unvaccinated Americans).
Earlier this month, the European Union elected it would not update its safe list, though changed its mind in light of worsening numbers in the USA.
Reuters reports EU nations are divided over whether to punish the United States for a lack of reciprocity, with member states heavily reliant upon tourism expressing hesitation to remove the USA from its safe list. But with case numbers growing, travel curbs will return.
CONCLUSION
Rising case numbers in the USA give EU leaders a perfect cover for blocking Americans on reciprocity grounds. Whatever the cause, there is currently tremendous uncertainty on transatlantic travel recovery and an increasing likelihood that United States citizens will soon be restricted from travel to many European nations once again, especially if not vaccinated. Stay tuned for how member states decide to adapt today’s EU determination.
You’re calling the President’s executive order “non-sensical”? This kind of dissent is not well received by Uncle Joe and his minders. You may need to go back to re-education camp.
I wonder if I’ll find Jake Cefolia there.
A second Trump term: coulda, woulda, shoulda…lol. So much LESS of this B.S. would be happening…
Another term with the Donald might have quashed this BS. Could’ve…would’ve…SHOULD’ve. SMH
Parker’s most enlightening comment from his interview last week (perhaps inadvertently) was this:
“So that’s been our point to the administration is let’s do this. Let’s go back to science. Let’s start opening countries that have high vaccination rates and low Covid rates. All that makes sense as I say it. The problem — and we get it — is those are relaxations of the status quo, which sends the wrong signal. And right now, I don’t think the administration, C.D.C., Jeff Zients, who I think is brilliant —
***I just don’t think they want to do anything that sends a signal that things are — that might look like it’s getting better.*** By the way, we could do that and not send that signal, but I agree. It’s a complex message. So we’re fine with it. We’ll wait it out.”
Emphasis mine. Optics matter more than science.
Yes indeed.
I dont see how this is that hard to accomplish…. reduce barriers on places with low covid rates (and higher vaccination rates) and increase/maintain barriers on other countries seeing Covid spikes.
Aside from being good policy, you’d have the messaging benefit of indicating that we’re not out of the woods, just staying on top of the data.
Thanks a lot you conspiracy driven unvaccinated assholes.
I’ve put off a once in a lifetime trip for my 80 yr old and 75 yr old in-laws to Germany for a year and a half, and at this rate they’ll be 100 and 95 before Americans get off their asses and agree that mask wearing and vaccinations aren’t some sort of pedophilia driven Satanic ritual.
Thank god social media and the conspiracy driven media wasn’t around during the height of Polio or we’d all be f*d.
I’m tired of doing the right thing only to have the selfish screw it all up.
Actually, the assholes are buffoons who take a jab that is supposedly 90% effective (more like 70%) against a virus that is 99.998%ineffective at killing you—geniuses #Insane
Go back to Parler
When is your trip to Germany? Spending the last month there has been amazing. I hope you are able to get there before the border is closed again. Consider going this week. Seriously.
Going September 12-26th with just the wife to Berlin (usually spend the month of September or October there), and then coming back to the US and then taking the wife and her parents for three weeks to Berlin and Berchtesgaden area.
Frankfurt in November and Tbilisi in December….hopefully
If only the “conspiracy driven unvaccinated assholes” were the lone holdouts… we’d have a much, much higher rate of vaccination in this country and consequently fewer severe cases, hospitalization and death.
Just like everything in our hyper-politicized discourse, the deeper you go, the more complicated the picture gets.
Perhaps you should worry about yourself and your family. I have < 0.5 percent chance of dying from Covid, so why would I take a shot of a substance for which we have no longer-term data on its impact to my body?
That is not logical.
Super logical
Option A – take a vaccine that had years of development technology-wise (mRNA) and the actual vaccine tested on tends of thousands of people before EUA, now given to billions worldwide – shown to be insanely protective, and now only the anti-vaxxers are the ones getting hospitalized and dying from Covid
or,
Option B – keep saying “I want to see more data”, meanwhile it has killed 4MM and counting globally, has unknown long term (long hauler) effects, new Delta variant on the rise and is even more transmissible & is affecting younger people, and increasingly get locked out of society due to being an anti-vaxxer…of course this person is “smarter than science”
Actually, don’t take it! Travel the world! Don’t wear a mask indoors! Would love to reduce this type of MAGA population in red/purple states. Florida & Texas are great examples of Governor stupidity right now.
Finally, UA-NYC understands! Travel the world, ignore the vaccine, don’t wear a mask. This is precisely what we all should be doing if we’re truly “following the science”. We all have immune systems for a reason. Anyone with an insufficiently strong one should either self-isolate, get the vaccine, or gain some intelligence to perhaps realize that death is inevitable. The selfishness and stupidity of the pro-maskers and pro-vaxxers never ceases to amaze me.
Polio was far deadlier than COVID-19 and yet there were no national lockdowns or universal mask mandates. Polio was defeated largely with voluntary, localized measures and private research and development. The global reaction to COVID-19 has been both hysterical and ineffective.
Never let the truth get in the way of your agenda. Polio was NOT far more deadly than COVID; in fact far less so: fewer than 1/150 of those with polio developed the paralytic form of the illness ( ie, infantile paralysis ) and of those between 5-10 % died. FDR had the paralytic form, in adulthood.
COVID is a devastating disease for many people and the long-term effects are not yet fully understood, and particularly so for the Delta variant.
No one ever denied the seriousness of Polio; the research to find treatments and vaccines was funded in significant measure via the March of Dimes, surely one of the most admirable examples of grassroots mobilisation. Of course there wasn’t a lunatic in the WH advocating all manner of quackery , inter alia injections of bleach and snake oil treatments.
No point trying to reason with the anti-vaxxing nutjobs out there. Said person can’t even verbalize the phrase “polio ended by the vaccine”. Science bad!
Consider that polio mostly kills the young. Also consider that in the last polio epidemic in the US, the population was well under half of what it is now. Consider that only 349 children have died in the US from COVID-19. I’d say polio would be far scarier to a parent than COVID-19. No lockdowns. But think of the children! Concerns about “long COVID” are overblown. Most of the symptom are so generic that they could be attributed to almost anything.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_polio
“In children, paralysis due to polio occurs in one in 1000 cases, while in adults, paralysis occurs in one in 75 cases. By 1950, the peak age incidence of paralytic poliomyelitis in the United States had shifted from infants to children aged 5 to 9 years; about one-third of the cases were reported in persons over 15 years of age. Accordingly, the rate of paralysis and death due to polio infection also increased during this time. In the United States, the 1952 polio epidemic was the worst outbreak in the nation’s history, and is credited with heightening parents’ fears of the disease and focusing public awareness on the need for a vaccine. Of the 57,628 cases reported that year, 3,145 died and 21,269 were left with mild to disabling paralysis.”
I am not denying that COVID-19 is a serious health problem. I think that the public health apparatus has completely mishandled it and imposed a blanket lockdown instead of shielding those most at risk, causing immense collateral damage and failing to protect those who most needed protection. Mask mandates do not protect people. Vaccines do, but coercing people to take it is not acceptable in a free society. Of course, progressives don’t care about freedom, so no problem there. People like UA-TDS reveal through their hectoring and death wishes that they don’t actually care about people. They just want to feel superior to others. It is reprehensible. He can blame MAGA-types all he wants, but ask him about black vaccination rates and see what he has to say. Racist!
Bro. @cargocult lives and breathes Trumpism. No point attempting to talk science to a Trumpist.
747always is another brainless progressive who can’t address the factual points I make and just cries “science!” while lacking any understanding of it. No doubt he would have been a fan of that great scientist Lysenko in Stalin’s progressive utopia.
Define ‘lockdowns’. Unless you define it as something we haven’t imposed with Covid, polio epidemics lead to lockdowns.
From Clinical Microbiological Reviews July 1996 “the 1916 epidemic caused widespread panic. Thousands fled the city to nearby mountain resorts. Movie theaters were closed, meetings were cancelled, and public gatherings were shunned. Children were warned not to drink from water fountains; amusement parks and bathing beaches were off limits. In some towns, visitors from the New York City area were turned away by armed citizens who feared the spread of contagion.”
And this from a disease that killed ‘only’ 6000 people that year.
Matthew, it seems you are using the terms “US citizen” and “US resident” interchangeably when they are two different things. Are you suggesting the EU would ban entry to US citizens who reside in the UK or Japan? Or are you saying they would ban US residents, who could be US citizens but could also be other nationalities who hold US green cards?
I’m a US citizen who does not reside in the US
I agree that requires clarification. It isn’t clear to me if a US citizen would be banned with, say, a residence visa from Japan coming in on a Tokyo flight. We’ll have to review the fine print once a rule is announced (if a rule is announced). Last winter, US citizens were blocked — didn’t matter where they started from. US residents also faced trouble unless they had EU passports.
It’s been reported over the last several days, including from Bloomburg, that the restrictions on Americans entering the EU will be on the unvaccinated, non-essential traveler. You are correct, each member country has the ability to say “yes” or “no” to the EU’s recommendations.
I would think Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal will remain open due to the amount of money made on holiday seakers.
My only question is what impact will the have on passengers transiting in an airport of a country where a ban on Americans has taken place, i.e. SkyTeam hubs like CDG and AMS.
You are really using Parker as your go to source on why US travel restrictions on the EU are inappropriate? Doug Park? Mr ME3 are monopolists unless they cut AA in on the windfall? Mr the-customer-is-wrong? A guy who lines his pockets with antitrust-protected JV with BA that price gouges travelers, many of them EU residents? Literally the last major US airline CEO pushing back on the idea that it might be a good idea for FAs and other frontline service workers to be vaccinated against COVID? He’s your source for changing US immigration policy in the interest of fairness and public health? On that basis alone, the US policy should stand. Let the EU ban Americans. There are so many dual passport holders in the US most large businesses will barely notice. leisure travelers can spend their money elsewhere. Small companies get the short straw but nothing new there.
A broken clock is right twice a day – I’ll use any all means necessary to expose the absurdity of the US travel ban. I found the anecdote very telling. I know you respectfully disagree with me on this.
I think the point that would essentially render this moot, is that many European countries (like Germany) are accepting fully vaccinated travelers from virtually any country unless they are on the variant of concern list. At least that’s my understanding of what I read. So moving to the naughty list seems like it would only impact about half of the US population. I’d love to be corrected if I’m wrong because I’m flying to FRA on Sunday, and don’t particularly wish to postpone my trip.
The Neanderthal in DC keeps instilling panic so he can have the herd under his control. Yes, Covid cases are going up BUT Covid will never be extinct. The dinosaur thunks he will eliminate Covid but he won’t similar to flu that is around us every year. While Covid cases are up, deaths are not even close to what used to be. There is a vaccine out there that according to him works so stop this nonsense and let people live their lives. Darwin will take care of the antivax and life will go on.
The President wants to go back to normal as soon as it’s safe to do so. Believe me, nobody has been more impacted by social distancing than Joe Biden. I mean, seriously, how are you supposed to sniff a girl’s hair from 6 feet away?
The EU banning Americans on the basis of reciprocity would mind-bogglingly stupid. This is simply not a priority for the administration – if it were, it would have been resolved long ago. The administration doesn’t care one way or the other. Neither (to the extent that they’re even aware of the issue) do the American people, outside of the folks on travel blogs and FlyerTalk. The United States does not care one way or the other about this.
The only thing this would do would be to deprive the EU tourist industry of the money spent by American tourists (however much that is). If the EU drew a line in the sand over this, the White House would shrug and wonder why a big deal is being made over something so trivial.
And… Bloomberg is out today reporting that the EU will NOT impose travel curbs on Americans. No restrictions will be re-instated. Will be reviewed in two weeks.
Excellent news!
I can’t leave you all in a room for five minutes before you start bickering again!
Bottom line is, wanna travel to Europe? Simple, you better be vaccinated. That’s it. Otherwise you will be eating sausages from a food cart in Croatia and sleeping in a park. And in most countries you won’t even get in. There is literally nowhere I have stayed in, eaten in, or shopped in right now that your vaccine card is not required. And everyone is fine with it.
My feeling is that the next step will be mandating vaccine proof for entry across all EU countries so as to keep it cohesive. I sent Matthew the form I filled out tonight to eat in a restaurant. It took 10 seconds. They checked my vaccine card. See? No big deal.
Get vaccinated or go to Myrtle Beach.
Not fair Stuart! Everyone knows the anti vaxxers like Branson much more than Myrtle this time of year.
I am not vaccinated and am writing to you from Italy. I went straight to Lago di Como after arriving on a packed United flight (Polaris service is still a joke; Champagne in plastic cups?). Now I am debating whether to go to Puglia or Sardegna and Sicilia. UA-TDS is pumped for his OPM drone trip to London next month, though, right? What about his “very hypothetical” trip to Milan and Como? Why would one even care to visit Milan in the summer? Will the Park Hyatt ever reopen?
BTW looks like someone has self-identified as a Tri-state resident, having flown EWRMXP. Anti-vaxxers aren’t that welcome in our neck of the woods (nor in Italy shortly) – time to move down to Alabama?
The European Union got what it wanted which was American tourist dollars. They didn’t want to go another season without the money. Now that the season is beginning to wind down, the restrictions on who can enter are coming back. Delta has been raging out of control in this country since early July but they waited until the last week of August to finally make a move especially against unvaccinated individuals.
I have no problem with Europe telling unvaccinated Americans to stay in America but will that still be their sentiment next year from May through early September only time will tell.
Huh. Not sure how many of you guys are working at the front lines, but honestly, we’re pooped out. Its exhausting. You might be inclined to think, “but wait, its just another patient. how is me being sick with covid, any different than any other patient?”
It is because covid has the potential to kill. And if it doesn’t kill, it can leave long-term effects on people. Loss of taste/smell, impotence (yes, us men.), decreased exercise tolerance, cardiomegaly (look luck reversing that, lol) among others. (the common cold, flu both don’t cause this) I’m sure you have heard of people who have had covid who survived. Yup, so have I. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. For example, that’s like me watching a person smoke 2 packs of cigs a day, and just because he/she didn’t get lung cancer, there is little harm/risk of me getting lung cancer if I smoke 2 packs a day. The risk is out there.
Worried about blood clots? The numbers are so low that it really isn’t a consideration ( to put it nicely). Your odds of having a blood clot just from a long distance plane ride are statistically higher than the covid vaccine. The numbers of DVTs/PEs are not high in frequency from the vaccine.
You might be inclined to think that as a healthcare provider, I must be SWIMMING in money. Hah, i wish. Some ER doctors have gone jobless. Imagine coming out of medical school (not all of us lived off of our grandparent’s estate) with 300K in debt, only to realize there is no job. Gotta settle for part-time. Yes, we signed up for this, but we signed up to help. Not to be BLAMED as if we’re trying to take advantage and ROB people of their money. All my colleagues took at least a 30% paycut. The patients still came in droves in relation to our down-sized staffing. Sicker than ever. The only people who profited are those in the C-suite, the people you never see. They got bonuses. No doctor group that I’ve talked to over the past two years has gotten any profit-sharing or some sort of bonus. Its easier to blame people in the white coats, for some reason. And the nurses? Well, you have probably heard of some nurses making 7-9k a week. Those are the nurses that make the headlines. But the majority of them, take a guess if they left their post to work at another hospital. They haven’t. But they’re damn burnt out, because they too are dealing with COVID patients, on top of all of the other maladies that bring someone to thehospital. I can tell you this, the COVID pandemic doesn’t stop heart attacks from happening, nor does it stop skin infections happening, strokes, or miscarriages, you name it. We even still have to see patients who present with STDs-even those still get transmitted despite the pandemic. So now, we’re just having to deal with one more thing. Thanks guys.
To those who don’t believe in the vaccine, that’s fine-I mean its America and you can do as you please. I’m only here to help. And yes it is possible to be indifferent to those opinions at work-healthcare cannot possibly be the only profession where its workers have to turn a blind eye to things. But, please don’t be condescending and tell me to find another diagnosis, when you come to the hospital, then test positive for COVID and there is no alternative diagnosis based on testing. At least the people who come in for a heart attack appreciate the care I provide them, instead of getting jeers about how COVID isn’t real and that I’m trying to trick them for cash, or some sort of agenda we healthcare providers are plotting. COVID19 isn’t a disease that benefits doctors financially, I can assure you. Ask any hospital CEO-healthcare makes money from elective surgeries. Increases in ER patients (e.g covid) lose the system money.
Lastly, some people use this as an opportunity to contradict ‘my body, my decision’ regarding vaccines. That statement was in reference to female abortion. Aborting a fetus has limited effects/strain on the rest of society. Choosing not to be vaccinated, does. These are apples and oranges. Taking care of COVID+ patients is expensive. higher level of care upon admission to the hospital, etc. And guess what, the rest of society pays for it. Why? Because even if its not socialized, insurance companies pool our premiums together and pay off the hospital bills. And if it costs too much, what happens next? Our premiums will all go up. How else can they survive in a capitalistic world? At the end of the day, you are being asked to pay for someone else’s hospitalization (even if you choose not to be vaccinated) and to me, that really sucks. Call me a liberal all you want, but like what “the right” often supports, I hate the idea of having to pay for someone else, and in this case, it is the healthcare they receive.
Why don’t you direct this at the masses of obese and overweight folx who are most at risk of bad outcomes from COVID-19? We’ve known about the risk for well over a year now, plenty of time to slim down. Eating an extra meal or two a day is a far bigger problem in the US than smoking a pack or two of cigarettes. “Liberal” means “authoritarian coercer.” But you and UA-TDS are on the right side of history! Thank “liberal” FDR for the ridiculous health insurance system in the US. Don’t forget redlining. COVID-19 is white supremacy in action.
Anti-vaxxer, you’re back! Thought your absence was due to a nice extended hospital stay, just like your fellow anti-vaxxers all over the South causing the overflowing hospital bed situation at the moment.
Now, back to your daily dose of obfuscation. Keep out-running Delta, anti-vaxxer! Have fun, it’s taking down people of all ages these days, not just the elderly.
Why is it that you wish ill upon me? I have never wished COVID-19 or any other disease on you. It seems like you might suffer from neurosyphilitic dementia, among a host of other maladies. You keep saying I obfuscate, but I cite data from progressive-accepted sources like the CDC and Nature. Don’t you follow the science, bro? IFL science! I am enjoying Italy, as your vaccinated self likely longs to do and yet for some reason isn’t. Is it that OPM tough-guy job that has you stuck at home? Why not work remotely from a villa in the hills of Chianti? Or a perch above la costiera amalfitana? Pumped for that London work trip? I am about to go for an aperitivo and then a home cooked meal with a nonagenarian nonna. Living my best life, vaccine and COVID-free! I’m not going to get the flu vaccine, either. U mad, bro?
Ironically I’m also in Italy at the moment. Have enjoyed a number of indoors meals – too bad that’s not available to you, anti-vaxxer! It is great to see them take the Green Card so seriously here.
EU won’t be letting your type in shortly, which is of course smart and sensible. So enjoy your time while it lasts. Hey maybe you should try the horse paste, aka Ivermectin. Many MAGA people are saying it’s tremendous!
And the Demented in Chief was going to eradicate Covid. LOL!!! Even Brazil was added to the safe list to travel to some European countries.
It’s almost as if politicizing public health was a bad idea, what with declaring that outdoor church services were tantamount to killing grandma, but BLM rallies were the bomb.
Or maybe the vaccine-hesitant still remember what Biden, Harris and Cuomo were saying about the vaccine while Trump was in office? Fortunately, most Americans know they are cynical jacks, and so we have a majority of the country vaccinated.
As long as it’s not an outright ban or if they don’t reintroduce things like getting RT-PCR and/or quarantine for us fully vaccinated folk, then I am ok. Though I would surmise that the venn diagram on unvaccinated people and people who want to travel to Europe doesn’t have a whole lot of overlap…
“European Union member states view the current U.S. rules as absurd”
Welcome to our hell. And it extends past this COVID debacle.
Useless addition to earlier article
More like essential addition because the EU has now made it decision and there won’t necessarily be an exemption for vaccinated travelers. Thanks for reading and commenting!
@ Matthew — I thin some of the info from your earlier article maybe should be removed. It seems conflicting and confusing. For example, “Earlier this month, the European Union elected it would NOT change its safe travel list. That “white list” currently includes the United States along with 19 other nations deemed safe due to COVID-19 case numbers and vaccination rates.”
Not only that, but if you want to say there’s “hope” for vaccinated travelers, as your first paragraph does, then it doesn’t follow from the news, since the newest EU recommendation applies to all travelers regardless of vaccination status.
There is hope for vaccinated travelers. I made very clear 1.) the EU recommendation applies to all travelers, even vaccinated ones but 2.) it explicitly left open the possibility for member states to adapt looser restrictions for vaccinated travelers (which is noteworthy considering the entire recommendation itself is non-binding)
I agree that the additions to the story are incongruent.
There have always been “hopeful” exemptions, as member states make their own decision regardless of any EU recommendations.
“But the new EU order does leave some hope vaccinated travelers will be spared.”
The new EU order doesn’t leave any more hope than it did last Friday or Wednesday. If anything, there’s less hope for vaccinated travelers.
Your problem is with the updated EU guidance, which itself is incongruent.
@Gene: my point with that was that the EU voted already earlier this month to stay open to Americans despite bad case numbers, but has now changed its mind (as numbers get worse). However, I agree it should have been clearer and have updated the wording.
So, if I’m clear, basically nothing is changing. Or, everything is changing. This is completely confusing. On the one hand the EU is suggesting blocking all non essential travel from the U.S.- but on the other hand they are saying it’s ok to only let in the vaccinated. Sounds like a face saving next step to message the Biden Administration that this is the last straw unless he opens up to the EU.
I think you are right. Now we’ll see what member states do!
So basically the order recommends EU countries ban all non-essential travel by Americans. But it also permits the individual countries to exempt vaccinated Americans if they so choose. And individual EU countries don’t have to comply with the order at all, because it’s only a recommendation. Clear as mud, right?
I have only one question: How many VACCINATED Americans have died SOLELY of Covid?…….exactly. Just gotta keep this going. A MULTI-BILLION dollar industry has been created.
You seem a Newsmax type of info source guy – they may not be reporting this over there, but news flash – the ERs in the South right now aren’t filled with responsible vaccinated types.
I have a business trip to DUB in September. Now what? Will I be allowed to travel? It involves a high level executive deal in my field of work, with attendees from four nations. I’m vaccinated + booster. So is my deal considered “nonessential”? I’m a self employed consultant and rainmaker who is caught in the twisting sails of political incompetence. The illogical barring of European travelers to the USA was bound to invite retaliation. My international clients here in the USA can’t have colleagues or family visit from Europe. They end up going to Mexico for meetings and get-togethers. How is that helping anything? The Wall Street Journal today has an op-ed piece ‘Your Are Living in the Golden Age of Stupidity.” Certainly an apt description of our times.
Misleading headline. The EU didn’t place any restrictions on US travelers – it’s up to the individual countries.
All of this uncertainty makes US-EU travel too hard to plan. If I was going by myself, I might just plan something and it would work or it wouldn’t, but with others along, some of whom are not frequent travelers, it is too much and I give up. And I can tell that the uncertainty, not the lack of desire to travel, is killing business travel and conferences as well. Meanwhile, I am flying regularly for personal reasons domestically.
I have so many clients at Award Expert now in limbo. It’s not a great feeling.
I have had no problem traveling between the US, UK and EU throughout the pandemic. I am enjoying la dolce vita while OPM tough guy UA-TDS sits at home in the US wishing death upon me in between box jumping sessions. Haters gonna hate.
Italy’s had a rough go w/Covid, starting with early cases in March 2020, when no one knew what was going on and it caught the world by surprise. They have come a long way in battling it since then, and are at a pretty low case count at the moment, quite unique compared to many other G20 nations.
I have talked to no shortage of locals the last few days who have talked about their Covid experience, how they cared for their neighbors, how proud they were to get the vaccine, and how they have turned the tide here.
And you come over like an American anti-vaxxing cowboy douchebag, standing in direct contrast to everything they stand for over here. Thank god they won’t let mouth breathing chumps like you indoors, and will soon be banned entirely – you don’t deserve to enter the EU.
FOAD you anti-vaxxing neanderthal twat. See you on a ventilator soon!
I’ve been in multiple so-called COVID-19 hotspots at the “scariest” times; Singapore right after the gas conference super-spreader event at the Grand Hyatt, Italy right when the national lockdown was instituted, the UK at various times during lockdown, Spain during its summer surge, etc. There was even someone with the UK variant on a BA flight I was on. I have tested negative before and after each trip, PCR/antigen/antibody. If I haven’t gotten sick, how could I possibly expose others to SARS-CoV-2? I don’t hang out with strangers in crowded bars or sing in church choirs. I am not fat or old. Why does it anger folx like UA-TDS so much to see unvaccinated folx going on with their lives while not getting sick and dying? I am not the one killing your fat friends (they are fat by choice). I am not the one killing your old friends (see your former hero Andrew Cuomo). It seems awfully close to white supremacy given the vaccination rates among black folx. “FOAD.” Progressives are so full of empathy and love for their fellow man. Only the most sophisticated folx use such acronyms. “SMH.”
I will now eat my risotto con gorgonzola e noci. By the way, I know plenty of Italians who aren’t getting vaccinated and see the Green Pass for the authoritarian scam that it is. Folx like UA-TDS won’t stop their agitation until the world is run by the CCP. Don’t let them win.
Once an anti vaxxer, always an anti vaxxer. Bet you like your MMR shots you previously got though. Hey how’s your mystery vaccine going? Or are you on to horse paste now?
Keep outrunning Delta! And (don’t) enjoy your last easy Italy trip for a while. Green Pass has incredibly high approval ratings among Italians btw. The plural of your couple friend anecdote is not data.
Other than that, anti vaxx away, twat.
Measles is a much deadlier disease than COVID-19 and kills younger people at a much higher rate. The MMR vaccine is not based on a novel technology under EUA. It is ironic that you bring it up given that anti-COVID-19 measures have hampered measles vaccination efforts around the world. It is just one of myriad collateral effects of the COVID-19 hysteria that authorities didn’t account for in locking down against a deadly but manageable disease. You mock ivermectin and yet the discoveries leading to it merited a Nobel Prize. I suppose all the African folx saved from river blindness are ignorant horse paste eaters to noble and enlightened folx like UA-TDS.
I can visit Italy whenever I please. Does that enrage you, box jumper? Frankly, I don’t care what polls say about illiberal policies. I don’t live my life according to the opinions of the masses, illiterate, innumerate and ignorant as they might be. Still, I don’t wish death upon my box-jumping haters. Why is UA-TDS filled with such rage?
Oh, and I know you like to say things like that bit on anecdotes and data to sound “science-y,” but you mangled it and completely inverted the meaning. The plural of anecdote IS data.
http://blog.danwin.com/don-t-forget-the-plural-of-anecdote-is-data/
I’m still footloose and (COVID) vaccine-free. U mad, bro?
Anecdote – there is a ‘Murican anti-vaxxing a$$hole traipsing around Italy right now, who should enjoy it while it lasts as his type will rightly be banned shortly.
Data – are there tens of thousands of these a$$holes roaming around Italy/EU right now? Nope they’re mostly in TX/FL.
UA-TDS/CCP, you brought up the snarky and erroneous comment in reference to data and polling. Your error having been demonstrated, you keep up with the only tool in your arsenal, insults. Do you think I care about polls? Universal suffrage is a joke. Certainly folx like yourself shouldn’t have any say in how others live their lives. If you got the vaccine and believe it works, why are you so upset about folx who don’t get vaccinated? If they die, they get what they deserve, right? Isn’t that why you wish death upon me?
I don’t think you understand how any of this works if you think I will be banned from being in Italy. Of course, your brain is a fact-free zone. I don’t much care what other assholes do as long as they leave every other asshole, including this one, alone. Busybody authoritarian much, UA-TDS/CCP?
France, at least, does not ban any vaccinated travelers, regardless of country.