Former Lancastrian

Door is open to visit if you are fully jabbed. Wanna stay longer then wait in line like everyone else. We are though keeping the key so we can lock the door again if needed. It would be nice if the Muricans used only one key for their doors. We can visit if we fly in but God forbid that the 80% of our population who all live within a 2 hour drive of the border attempt to cross in their cars.

Better be open by next year I would like to visit Utah & Colorado again.

johnbrown1938

If you can change things why not change the title to Where is the anger about the travel ban against the UK? Where is the anger? Doesn't really explain the purpose of the chat does it.

christmasoompa

If the OP wants the thread title changed, I'm sure they'll let us know.

Hiro11

I'm also surprised at the lack of anger... at people who STILL refuse to get vaccinated here in the US.

The proof is incontrovertible. As one example, my county maintains a very easy to understand dashboard that breaks out cases and mortality by vaccination status (it's about 3/4 of the way down the page):
https://www.dupagehealth.org/610/DuP...D-19-Dashboard

The lesson: vaccines reduce the risk of covid to background noise for almost everyone. If you're vaccinated, you have a (very) slight risk of testing positive for Covid. If you're vaccinated and you have underlying medical risk factors, you have about as much risk of becoming seriously ill as you would from something like the flu. If you are both vaccinated AND have no underlying medical risk factors, you have almost literally ZERO chance of becoming seriously ill.

The same results have been found all over the world. This is FANTASTIC news. Given this type of evidence, I've concluded that un-vaccinated people who don't have a health risk and have ready access to vaccines (which is the vast, vast majority of people over 12 in the US currently) are stupid, selfish asses. I agree with Biden on this point: my patience is at an end. Compare the experience in my IL county or my brother's MA county (both with vaccination rates approaching 80%) and compare them the the current experience my sister is seeing in her Tennessee county (vaccination rates in the mid 40% range). Covid is essentially defeated here and it's raging in TN. What is wrong with people?

TexanScot

It's not quite that low, but I believe the vaccines reduce your risk of contracting the virus itself by around half, which is still nothing to be laughed at when you consider that if you DO contract it, the vaccine will likely stop you become seriously ill or being admitted to hospital.

Unfortunately the general public don't really understand the subtleties of science, and when researchers initially stated that there was "no evidence" that vaccines reduce the likelihood of contracting the virus then this absence of evidence was wrongly construed as evidence of absence, which is not the same thing at all.

We know now that the vaccines are pretty damn good at preventing you from contracting the virus in the first place, but a lack of scientific savvy amongst the media and the general public has allowed the myth to take hold that the vaccines are no use for this whatsoever.

Not everyone has or is interested in obtaining a scientific education, but the complicity from certain parts of the media in this has been truly shocking to behold.

TexanScot

To be fair - and having sparred with you earlier in the thread - you are not wrong.

You're perhaps a little blunter and less sympathetic than the person you're responding to would like, but you are 100% objectively correct in what you are saying.

lizzyq

Personally I can fly back to the USA with no issues, but I have waited to travel until the restrictions for travelling to the UK were made less rigourous for the fully vaccinated. While waiting I was frustrated but not angry and in the meantime I have just got on with my life over here.

However I do miss the "I want to move to Florida" threads that have evaporated with the absence of UK tourists visiting the House of Mouse.

Mallory

Most of us are trapped by the circumstances of Covid. I am dual citizen and DH is American citizen. Yes, we can go to the UK. Problem is, we are both of retirement age, as are many of my family members. If we go to the UK, through, 3 airports. We could arrive with Covid, even though we are vaccinated. We were vaccinated, two shots in February, so it could be running low! Hopefully will get a booster soon. Some of my family have had health problems. I don’t want to endanger them. Also DH is prone to bronchial problems, and does not want to travel internationally.

Yes, I could go by myself, but then again I have to think of infecting family members if I caught Covid on the trip over. Then when I came back, if I picked up Covid, I could give it to my DH. So you see it is a catch-22. I can go, but common sense says I cannot go.

No, I am not angry. I am just waiting.

On a side note, I think the OP said he had a kidney transplant recently in the US. Correct me if I am wrong. Why would he want to travel in the middle of a pandemic, or entertain guests after international travel. Risky I would think.

TexanScot

I think we're at the point now where we need to accept that there's now a risk there that's just never going to go away, not now that the virus is going to remain endemic in the human population for the foreseeable future.

There will always be people who either can't or won't get vaccinated, and all you can really do at this point is get vaccinated, get any boosters as and when they become available and hope for the best.

scrubbedexpat099

Agree, more likely this is part of the norm.

droidguy72

Good for you. Neither do I. Now tell me why I have to go through different covid restrictions than a USC, despite legally living, working, and being vaccinated in the US.

My anger is that I am deemed unsafe to enter the US on a non-immigrant visa directly from the UK, even though USCs/GCs can.

You can help me if you believe this is wrong. Here's a letter for you to sign: https://www.stopthetravelban.com/how-you-can-help
If you don't think this is wrong, do you mind explaining with some rational thinking why the ban should be in place? Preferably without a "like it or lump it" attitude that stinks in every one of your posts.

I am sure the US government appreciates your subservience and silence no matter what their policy. I bet North Korea would love you to emigrate, if you're interested.

Nope. Still angry about the lack of science behind such a ban and hoping to raise awareness and apply pressure on US Govt. Yet to meet a supporter of this who hasn't already obtained citizenship pre-COVID (otherwise, I'm sure some attitudes here would be less bold )

Read the post again. I don't want to travel for leisure, I would be travelling to take care of sick family members (no, not with infectious diseases).

Hiro11

No. Where are you getting that? The latest CDC study shows a 91% reduction in infection risk. https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...uce-risks.html

Note that risk of infection and risk of transmission are two separate measures as this video from the Mayo clinic explains:

In other words, one can transmit the virus while being vaccinated due to carrying viral loads in your nose and throat despite not being infected/sick yourself. How common this is is not well understood.

Per the dashboard I posted, 96%+ of cases in my county (population ~1mm, definitely large enough to be statistically significant) since Dec20 were in unvaccinated people. I understand this is not the same thing as the "risk of breakthrough infection" but it's definitely related and indicative.

Also, as you point out, reducing the risk of severe illness is really what's important. Covid is an endemic virus. There is zero chance of full eradication ("zero covid"), ever. At some point we need to pivot from worrying about case counts and focus on the risk of serious illness and death. In those regards, vaccination has an essentially perfect record. The point remains: if you can get vaccinated and you have no underlying health risk from vaccination, you should get vaccinated immediately.

Note: yes, I understand that higher case counts may mean faster evolution and emergence of new variants. Regardless, if the vaccines continue to be effective in preventing illness/death the point remains.

civilservant

People are still dying, and people moving from one place to another are contributing to that. As I said earlier in the thread, I am in favor of a total suspension if all international travel for everyone (other than essential person) until such time as the Delta variant burns itself out and there have been no new variants of concern for 60 days.

I don't believe it should apply to non-residents/USCs only, I just don't think you have the political standing as a guest of this country to complain about it.

scrubbedexpat097

I think Mallory was thinking more about the risk you would be taking for your own health with either you traveling to your family or with them traveling to you.

scrubbedexpat099

Because Biden says so. Nobody on here has any control of US politics.