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Vaccine news!

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    I’m still the optimist around here. We will send you a post card from Arusha in late June.

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    Cathy, be a pessimistic like me, or yes, I’m really a realistic person. Tell yourself your trips are not going, then if they do, it will be a wonderful thing That’s the way I’ve been looking at my trips, I’m basically well over them in my head and I’m looking forward to possibilities for next year now.

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    Sealord - I look forward to your post card from Arusha in late June. I just doubt that it will be part of a Tauck tour, but let's hope it is.

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    East Africa is probably the place I would most like to be, instead I’m here, I’ve walked four miles and I’ve got the laundry in the dryer, that’s my reality.
    Sealord, be realistic, you are not going to be in Arusha in June. At least you’ve had about two or three vacations since lockdown, be satisfied with that. Plus you live in an area with very little Covid infection. And go on, make my day and tell me you already got the vaccine.
    Love you Sealord!

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    British said:

    I wonder if Tauck will want their directors to be vaccinated or indeed people like us, will we need to be able to prove we have had a vaccine to Tauck?

    Good question. I think I remember reading somewhere that companies couldn't require vaccination so long as it was being distributed under an emergency order. However, I think that until the pandemic subsides, other countries will require the vaccine or quarantine to enter. So unless the TD is local, they will probably need to get the vaccine or arrive two weeks early. Maybe Tauck will hire local guides to be tour directors in the near term. So many issues to resolve. Still keeping fingers crossed.

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    edited January 2021

    I received an email last night from our health care provider, UCSF, that said they are starting to vaccinate ‘our’ group in a few days. Supply is limited so be patient, we will call you, don’t call us. We are in group 1B, and my wife has another factor that may put her ahead of me.

    On another front, I just read on ‘The Points Guy’ that hotels are starting to provide covid tests to their guests to satisfy the re-entry problem. Travel companies and hotels will need to be clever ... there are a lot of clever people in the world.

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    Cathy - I assume you mean your resort in Jamaica. We got a similar message from ours.

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    We received the following from a resort in Jamaica that we have booked for mid-April.


    INFORMATION ABOUT THE CDC TESTING REQUIREMENTS

    According to the CDC, air passengers entering the U.S. will be required to present documentation of a negative COVID-19 viral test (called a Qualifying Test) conducted within the 3 days before their flight departs to the U.S.

    Documentation should be for a viral test (NAAT or antigen) as approved or authorized by the relevant national authority.
    Test results must state: Negative, SARS-CoV2 RNA Not Detected, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Not Detected, or COVID-19 Not Detected. Invalid will not be accepted.
    Documentation may be paper or electronic copy and must include the name and contact information for the laboratory or healthcare personnel who performed the test.
    Test results may be required to be shown again upon landing.
    Alternatively, passengers may provide documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 with documentation of test results conducted during the 3 months preceding the flight’s departure from a foreign country.

    Test results must state: Positive, SARS-CoV2 RNA Detected, SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Detected, or COVID-19 Detected. Invalid will not be accepted.
    Additionally, a letter from a licensed health professional stating that the passenger has been cleared for travel (called Documentation of Recovery) is required.
    Finally, all airline passengers will be required to present a simple CDC attestation form to the airline for collection prior to boarding. The CDC attestation form can be found here for reference.

    For full information, please reference the FAQs on the CDC website, which can be found here.


    If this is a requirement for re-entry from all countries this could be the biggest roadblock yet to resuming Tauck tours. Would Tauck have to provide these tests someway? If you failed the test can you imagine your problems/headaches?

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    We live in the Houston area and although contracted by our Health Provider concerning the availability of the vaccine we have yet to receive it. WIth that in mind we have pushed back our Spain and Portugal trip from October 2021 to May 2022. Just seems to be too many uncertain factors to deal with and not sure how much of the population of other countries will be vaccinated,

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    We signed up to go on the list for vaccination but there is absolutely no timeline mentioned. We are thinking of taking up smoking or say we smoke so we can get vaccinated sooner.....no just kidding.
    Glad we don’t have to figure out about testing for a trip right now. Please let us know how it all works when you return.
    So if you test positive before you come back to the US, and they won’t let you on the flight, are you willing to stay in that country or be hospitalized there? As the tests remain iffy for results, you could have a negative test one day and a positive the next or your Covid status could change while you are on vacation. The extra annual travel insurance we have, Emergency Assist Plus, we have had a letter from them to say we are not covered for repatriation from another country if it is bot on the do not travel list etc. That’s concerning me going forward.
    I’ve just come off a zoom call with friends where we have been discussing all the places we would like to visit or revisit in the US. Providing a civil war doesn’t start next week. 😞

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    Seems the Trump administration has been lying about the vaccine reserve. Promised doses aren't there. Article on CNN about it. Also, our governor announced today that the state was supposed to get 300K doses and will only be getting about 70K doses.

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    Cathyandsteve: American Airlines has an app called ‘VeriFLY’ that is supposed to automate, and expedite the re-entry test and verification process. It is a ‘QR’ code verification process that expedites the check in and avoids fraudulent test products.

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    edited January 2021

    The travel restrictions to/from any location are provided on the AA website. You enter your to/from and date and then it pops up the restrictions for both directions.

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    edited January 2021

    We are in the STEP program and received this email this morning. I looked at all the links, which are pages long. Lots of questions are answered but I have even more.such as, if you test positive before you are due to fly back to the US, what do you do, where do you stay, will you have to have a letter from a dr confirming you are no longer infective if you want to travel as mentioned in the CDC pages? Will the hotels let you stay in them. Will hotels require negative test results. It’s mind boggling. I’m glad I’m not due to travel anytime soon, I want to hear from others how it all works.

    Health Alert - Department of State - Bureau of Consular Affairs (January 15, 2021)

    Location: Worldwide:The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director has signed an order requiring all airline passengers traveling to the United States, including U.S. citizens and Lawful Permanent Residents (LPRs), to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 viral test or recovery from COVID-19.

    Event: Effective January 26, all airline passengers to the United States ages two years and older must provide either a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within three calendar days of travel or provide a positive test result and documentation from a licensed health care provider or public health official of having recovered from COVID-19 in the 90 days preceding travel. Passengers must also attest, under penalty of law, to having received a negative qualifying test result or to recovery from COVID-19 and medical clearance to travel.

    See the CDC Proof of Negative Test Result page to view the order, complete the attestation, and to see FAQ's.

    Airlines must deny boarding to passengers who do not meet these requirements.

    U.S. citizens in countries where adequate COVID-19 testing is not available or may not be able to satisfy the requirements, should depart immediately or prepare to be unable to return to the United States until such time as they can meet the requirements.

    Actions to Take:

    Monitor the CDC website for latest guidance regarding testing requirements.
    Check with your air carriers or travel representative prior to departure for the United States.
    Check COVID-19 Country Specific Information updated information on COVID-19 related information including availability of testing.
    Visit travel.state.gov to view individual Travel Advisories for the most urgent threats to safety and security.
    Visit the Department of Homeland Security's website on the latest travel restrictions to the United States.
    Click herefor our COVID FAQs Search Tool.
    Assistance:

    State Department - Consular Affairs

    888-407-4747 or 202-501-4444

    Enroll in Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive security updates

    Follow us onFacebook and Twitter

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    Uhmmm
    Why wait till Jan 26, they should start next week , every other country did it months ago...... :s

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    Vaccines....so I keep hearing about more and more friends and acquaintances getting the vaccine, including my best friend’s husband in England who sent me this message....

    This is jim by the way:I went down at closing time and got a spare dose that was going to waste. Apparently often there is 6 doses in a 5 dose vial
    So Jim is a great guy, I think he’s about 65. The vaccine center is at a local health center where people go with an appointment, there are no long lines and it’s very organized. I guess he was in the know since my friend has been vaccinating people a couple of days this past week. I think she’s already had her second dose. If there are any doses left, I think they have a list of people they can call and if they can arrive promptly, they will get the bonus shots.

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    edited January 2021

    Here in Colorado, that 6th (and occasionally 7th) dose is being "budgeted for" and utilized in the rollout. This was done after the state health dept got the OK from the CDC, Pfizer, or whomever.

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    My husband and I got our first shot this morning as we fall in the 65+ group. Now we wonder if our May 9/10 trip to Black Sea is a possibility.

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    I should have said we are in SoCal

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    So you two have gotten your vaccine. But it depends on many more factors about whether your tour will go ahead. Simplest point being, maybe you will be the only two on the tour who got the vaccine. Will you be able to get the second shot! Etc etc. will that area still be on lockdown. Will US citizens be able to travel out of the country for something called a vacation or allowed in others. Yes I know, I’m a pessimist.

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    Equally pessimistic, I believe we will receive shot #2 even if supply is running low, they will give second shot before any more first shots. Maybe not.
    We are going ahead and pretend trip will happen. If not, nothing lost but more memories. If yes...well, I can dream can’t I?

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    My husband and I, 75+, received our Moderna 1st dose on 12/26/20. We are scheduled to get 2nd dose this week. We live on Maui. The 2 vaccine clinics on Maui have closed this week to first dosages and will only be giving 2nd dosages thru Feb. We rebooked our Essence of Japan 5/2020 to 5/6/21. Japan does not appear to have it under control so looks like we will have to rebook to 2022. Time will tell. We have an Egypt/Nile River, Mid East tour in October with another tour operator. Would have liked to use Tauck, but they did not have what we wanted. That might be iffy, too. We are not getting any younger.

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    Wow, that’s great Cathy! We heard bad news here. The mayor of the city of Philadelphia said that the city of Philadelphia was only receiving 20 thousand doses of vaccines a WEEK! So goodness knows how little the burbs where we live are getting. He made it clear it will be many weeks before they can even get the 1 a people vaccinated. Crazy.... I do hope that tomorrow brings changes. The second bit of bad news for Pennsylvania is that we are losing our fantastic Chief medical officer Rachel Levine to the new administration as assistant Health secretary, but that’s great for her.
    Meanwhile, we hope we can remain well until our turn comes around. If we can travel in 2022, that’s what we look forward to. Any 2021 will be a wonderfully surprise. Japan in September will be so incredible!

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    British
    Japan in September will be so incredible!

    You know that's the peak of typhoon season?

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    edited January 2021

    My hubby says it will be fine, he spent several months living there and has visited many many times. We know there will be some rain and the company we are using, that is the only date they go the entire year. They have been going there for years. Their itinerary is much better than the Tauck one.

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    Has anyone seen it written that the government will accept proof of vaccination for return to the states? The way I read the CDC policy that begins on January 26th, is that you need 1) proof of a negative test from a certified source within 72 hours of your return or 2) proof, via a medical person, that you have recovered from having Covid within the last three months.

    If this policy isn't amended to accept proof of vaccination then most tours will remain problematic. I can't imagine having to arrange on my own getting a covid test and the results within the 72 hour window of returning home on any tour. On tour you're unlikely to be in one city for those 72 hours. One exception could be cruise (small ship or riverboat) tours if they provide acceptable testing on the ship and the tour doesn't have a land segment longer than 72 hours after the cruise segment of the tour.

    We have reservations in April at a resort in Jamaica. We will be in the same spot the entire time (at least each evening) and they will provide acceptable testing on site at the resort. This seems doable. In addition, on the chance that we fail the test, the resort will provide a free room for up to 14 days.

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    Proof of vaccination, they say will not be sufficient to re-enter the US, since you can still catch Covid even if you have been vaccinated, but you are much less likely to become seriously ill, which is pretty muchh the same as when you get a flu shot.
    Your third question about proof you have had actual Covid and recovered, I would need to reread it.
    I would think that Tauck will have to amend their tours to provide customers with a place the entire group can be tested at an appropriate time before the end of the tour. The other problem is that if we elect to stay on at the end of a tour, the three day window to accept any test that Tauck gets for you, may be over and you might need to retest and get a result. The same if you are flying to another destinations on your own before returning to the US, if it is longer than 24 hours stopover, they want another test. We have no idea what airports might set something up for testing...but can you imagine getting to the airport early to get a test and then finding a huge long line that means you might not get your plane.
    Jamaica is one of the few areas I have not been to in the Caribbean. I’m amazed they are saying you can stay at the resort for 14 days free. Where do they put the people who are supposed to go into your room after you? Do they move you to a gritty room in the back of beyond? What happens if you test positive for longer than that, which is entirely possible. I know Cathy reports the same thing. I guess they must be desperate to get tourists back.
    I’d love to be sitting in the Caribbean right now, reading my book and going for a swim, instead I’m on the forum, but I am about to open my book, guess what I am reading, yep another Africa book....The Eye of the Elephant.

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    edited January 2021

    Some valid points. Post tour travel or delayed departure may not always be an option. That being said, I was checking my KLM reservation, and on their website they said that they would be flexible in booking a later flight if the test did not come back in time ... or presumably if it expired. People are clever. They will figure it out. We have no outside dining here right now just ‘takeout’. So you take it outside where you magically will find tables and chairs ... just no waiters nor table service. In one local park the ‘city’ turned all the tables upside down and chained them together. No problem ... people sit on the upside down picnic tables (happens to work quite well), or they bring their own chairs. Or, just walk a block to city hall where there are ‘open’ picnic tables. Go figure.

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    You will probably be in a ‘bubble’ in Jamaica as well. The last time I was in Jamaica, it was not a place where you wandered about on your own. We did some excursions but they were very controlled with no ‘free’ time.

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    Sounds wonderful Cathy, never been to an all inclusive. Can you recommended the insurance you use, the annual insured company we have been using will not cover Covid.

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