Omicron Covid Variant and US Immigration Impact Thoughts?

[millefleur 5,046]

3 minutes ago, Boiler said:

Certainly Denver Airport requires you to wear a mask.

Masking is a must in all the airports I've been to but again it's not very enforced. As long as it's somewhat on your face, it seems like that's all they care about, as I'd imagine logistically it's near impossible to enforce "proper masking." Also everyone has to take their mask off during customs/border crossing anyway for ID purposes, so if we assume Covid is spreading just by breathing, I guess the borders could be contaminated just from that alone. ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯

[Boiler 45,461]

I have bot flown for sometime, picking somebody up and had gone in some way when I noticed most were wearing and then saw a sign, to be fair there were signs on the way in, just did not click.

 

Chin style, yes I see those. It was a bit odd because in my normal life just do not see masks. I had my third jab and needed one and should have realised, fortunately they had a box. But then saw people coming in after me with same issue.

[millefleur 5,046]

2 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I have bot flown for sometime, picking somebody up and had gone in some way when I noticed most were wearing and then saw a sign, to be fair there were signs on the way in, just did not click.

There are some pretty absurd rules out there such as "you must put your mask back on between sips and bites during the in flight meal" as the flight attendants announce during the flight, but again, it's not enforced. They come by during the flight from time to time if they see someone who just doesn't have a mask on at all and remind them. But even with this loose enforcement, it feels more like an "honor system" situation where you're just supposed to wear it because you should. I guess if you were to argue/fight over it with airport staff/flight attendants, the situation would be escalated only in that case.

 

What made me laugh hard was the "smoker's lounge" at Frankfurt airport. The whole airport had seating blocked off with wide green bands requiring masking and social distancing but then you'd pass the smoker's lounge absolutely packed with people smoking and obviously not wearing masks, lol. I even saw a bunch of fully suited up medical personnel in hazmat suits napping right next to the smoker's lounge and it just looked beyond comical.  Lufthansa forced us to put on "medical masks" (they were handing them out as people boarded, cotton masks were considered a no-no) but that was literally the only real "enforcement" I've seen, other airlines I've been on do not bother.

[Boiler 45,461]

I remember reading about a UK Influencer who got booted off a flight from NY to Las Vegas for mask issues, but seems she was just put on the next flight.

 

Trying to remember the term for this, it is bit like the TSA, more for show that reality.

[Redro 4,611]

12 minutes ago, Boiler said:

I remember reading about a UK Influencer who got booted off a flight from NY to Las Vegas for mask issues, but seems she was just put on the next flight.

 

Trying to remember the term for this, it is bit like the TSA, more for show that reality.

When it comes to the TSA its called "security theater". 

But, I agree right now wearing masks and travel bans its all optics. 

Governments needs to appear like they're doing something. 

[millefleur 5,046]

5 minutes ago, Kor2USA said:

When it comes to the TSA its called "security theater". 

But, I agree right now wearing masks and travel bans its all optics. 

Governments needs to appear like they're doing something. 

And the funny part is, a lot of the "enforcement" actually gets dumped on the airlines. The governments pass some law or mandate and then expect other people to do the work to make it "work" basically. When re-entering the US, I thought that the CBP officer would at least want to double check our PCR test and vax cards, but nope. I assume they trusted that the "vax check" people (which was a separate security kiosk near the gate run by the airline) back in Frankfurt had done their jobs and that was that. Both my husband and I are citizens, so I don't know if it's easier for citizens. Maybe in the visitors line CBP does re-check documents.

[slavaskii 886]

2 hours ago, millefleur said:

And the funny part is, a lot of the "enforcement" actually gets dumped on the airlines. The governments pass some law or mandate and then expect other people to do the work to make it "work" basically. When re-entering the US, I thought that the CBP officer would at least want to double check our PCR test and vax cards, but nope. I assume they trusted that the "vax check" people (which was a separate security kiosk near the gate run by the airline) back in Frankfurt had done their jobs and that was that. Both my husband and I are citizens, so I don't know if it's easier for citizens. Maybe in the visitors line CBP does re-check documents.

You're entirely right, to add a little anecdote here, I flew to Belarus on the day they instituted a PCR requirement for all travelers. I knew about this so I had taken one beforehand, but the clinic was delayed in getting it back so I arrived in Frankfurt without it. The Lufthansa gate agents laughed and honestly didn't care I didn't have it; they were ready to board me without the test. I ended up cancelling that leg of the flight and rebooking through Kyiv because I didn't want to go on without it, and I sat and watched everyone board with only their tickets.

 

Fast forward a day and I'm sitting in Kyiv airport, and I see a news article that Belarus detained a bunch of travelers in Minsk who arrived without a PCR test. Apparently, they suspected the airlines (outside Belavia) weren't going to be responsible in checking so they decided to spot-check the first day themselves, and lo and behold, they were correct.

 

Apart from that being my last time ever flying Lufthansa or through Frankfurt, that experience has stuck with me as exemplifying how everything rests on the airlines to 'get it right'. It was also an experience in watching people 'crack' under pressure, and I got to witness fun spectacles like a man coming up to an agent declaring he had COVID, a sleep-deprived passenger upset because he was detained after the UK variant prompted restrictions overnight, and being told by a Lufthansa employee I needed to stay in the airport for 3 nights and pay 500$ for a COVID test before being able to leave. What a nightmare traveling was... and, in many respects, still is. 

[Mike E 11,739]

3 hours ago, Boiler said:

Trying to remember the term for this, it is bit like the TSA, more for show that reality.

Pandemic theater. E.g. someone who visits a hospital wearying a KN-95 is told to exchange it for a useless surgical  mask. 

 

TSA has security theater. E.g. liquids are banned yet a merchant  can bring 50 dozen bottles of soft drinks through the check point with no tests for explosives.  

Edited November 28, 2021 by Mike E

[StrawberryKiss 170]

11 hours ago, millefleur said:

There's no enforcement here outside of vaccine requirements and PCR tests. For air travel, PCR tests are done prior to boarding at outside labs that each person has to do on their own, there's no additional testing that is required after, not even rapid testing. I assume if someone has obvious symptoms like a fever or coughing they might get extra scrutiny at the airport/border but as long as you have a negative test/vaccine paperwork, there's nothing else they look for as far as I know.

 

It appears to me they have put 100% faith in the PCR tests. If you have a negative result, you are cleared for entry. If you get a positive result, you have to wait to fly until you get a negative result. I have not heard of any self-isolation or quarantine whatsoever happening here in the States for travelers. No restriction on movement at all.

 

I suppose even if someone here got Covid, they still can't force that person to quarantine. They can tell you to self isolate/stay at home and maybe you'll get banned from going to a doctor's office/certain places for a few weeks but there's no way to really enforce it here from what I've seen. There's no field hospital or hospital wing where they are officially quarantining people. There were some field hospitals set up at the very early days of the pandemic (so years ago) and I think they all stopped functioning a long time ago. Only the very sick end up in hospital quarantines here.

 

Lufthansa only requires rapid tests for boarding US-bound flights.  

[royryan 16]

On 11/27/2021 at 8:13 AM, Mike E said:

So there was an average of 12 hours for people to be exposed.  
 

It’s well known these tests can have false positives and false negatives. 
 

Of course.  

Even if the tests were 100 percent accurate and people were 100 percent honest, unless the people taking the test are physically isolated while waiting for results, that leaves a window for infection.  
 

One of the Big Lies we were told was that 6 foot physical distancing was enough to prevent transmission. So Australia with its rigid controls and mandatory quarantines on inbound travels was surprised. Security  guards posted  dozens of feet down the hall away from the doors of rooms holding guests in quarantine hotels became infected by those guests.  All it took was a moment when room service left a tray of food and the infected guest opened  the door to fetch the food.  
 

This six foot Big Lie is laughable considering governments allow passengers in commercial aircraft to be packed shoulder to shoulder and they can remove their useless cloth and surgical masks at times on the flight.  
 

Does the UK test everyone who arrives? Does it quarantine  all arrivals until there is both a negative test and two weeks elapsed. If not, easy to see how it got there.  
 

Zero Covid for an illness that is under 1 percent fatal is a pipe dream. Society will never accept that in the long run.  

https://roundtablereport.com/?p=6582

[Gawain 23]

On 11/26/2021 at 6:26 AM, canadian_wife said:

It is not fruitful to speculate.  That will cause worry and panic.  Nothing anyone can do. I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy.

 

good luck 

 

Wise, Canadian wife.

 

And now with "the Merck pill" and Novavax coming out soon, who knows what will happen...probably everything will change again.  I'm going to guess that it will, for the better.

 

 

 

[millefleur 5,046]

33 minutes ago, Gawain said:

And now with "the Merck pill" and Novavax coming out soon, who knows what will happen...probably everything will change again.  I'm going to guess that it will, for the better.

Is novavax coming out soon? That is an inactivated virus type vaccine right?

[Gawain 23]

Novavax is "old school" vaccine and supposedly has very few side effects as compared to mRNA vaccines.  I don't know, this is just what I've heard.

 

Here are some pressers:

 

https://ir.novavax.com/press-releases

[IraLada 7]

On 11/27/2021 at 7:56 AM, millefleur said:

To be honest I'm kinda shocked how this even left SA so quickly. I traveled abroad recently and everyone was requiring vaccine certificates AND negative PCR tests no older than 72 hours. For unvaccinated people who were US citizens, the test had to be less than 24 hours. The airlines would not let people even get a boarding pass without showing the proper documentation. There's no easy peasy check in anymore with the instant boarding pass on your phone/print out at home, you have to go to the check in counter and get all documents checked and only then do they hand over the boarding pass.

 

Is it possible the PCR tests just do not work and someone can be infecting/spreading despite a negative result? Are people faking PCR test results? I'm just so confused. If we have technology that is supposed to detect infections why is it still not under control?

The test shows a positive result no earlier than 4 days after infection. And the incubation period (when a person has already become infected, but so far no signs of the disease have appeared) can last up to 2 weeks. Those. the person is not yet sick but is already spreading the infection around him.

[commocean 9]

Has anyone flown into the US getting only the antigen test?  A lot cheaper and quicker.  I'm in Tanzania flying first to Portugal before onto the US and they only require antigen tests.  It seems like these could easily be done at the airport. I had one here for $20.  In Seychelles a PCR test cost €111!  I feel "sorry" for those guys if antigen tests are allowed.  And for their Lamborgini dealers.

Also, my alien unvaccinated spouse got scared when United removed the spousal exemption from their website for our upcoming trip to the US.  Glad to see it's in the proclamation.

I heard people with colds, the flu or sniffles will be banned next.  Then it will be people with impure thoughts.