Dreary COVID Travel Recommendation

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Comments

  • Apparently the virus mutates about every two weeks.

  • There is more travel happening than people here seem to think. I just checked the flight I intend to take to AMS in June. Today KLM 606 is enroute and on time from SFO to AMS. The last time I checked, Schiphol is open to connecting passengers. We will see what happens.

  • I am also glad to hear kfn....that your husband will have the vaccine. He should not have had to wait so long. I know of someone of 99 who has not had it yet. I would gladly give up my vaccine to my son if I could get one, he is on a drug that suppresses his immune system at the moment.
    A good friend called me today to tip me off about rural pharmacies many miles away from here. She got an appointment and is going this week, she lives in the city and has spent days trying to get her shot, she has a serious and chronic underlying health condition. We looked up the website, there is nothing. My husband thinks it is crazy to drive maybe three hours away in the winter to an area that is much higher Covid risk than here, so I doubt he will want to explore the possibilities further.
    Don’t worry about mutations, these vaccines can be easily tweaked, just like the flu vaccines each year. Just don’t catch the virus!
    Sealord, as a former pilot should know that the airlines will keep their itineraries up until the last minute in the hope that people cancel first and then will only be offered vouchers instead of cash. Africa in June.......no way. There are plenty of places on that K and T tour now, maybe if it’s a go Sealord, we will get a last minute booking and join you!
    I applaud you for your optimism

  • Only a week to go before Pfizer #2 :)

  • I’ve just read this, for my county thst has around 830,000 people
    If I survive Covid, it could be rears before I get my vaccine

    The county received only 1,000 doses last week, which is far from enough for one of the state’s most populous counties.

    Mauldin emphasized that the state needs to receive more vaccines from the federal government, especially as the supply has been stretched thin by more providers requesting doses now than in previous weeks.

    So far in Pennsylvania, 1,164,600 vaccine doses have been administered to 918,210.

  • Sealord, did you see this, will Tauck travel to possibly the worst country for not having people vaccinated

    President John Magufuli continues to urge Tanzanians to take precautions against Covid-19, the latest cases of which he blames on travellers bringing it into the country, and has cautioned against taking Covid-19 vaccines.

    Tanzania last shared data on Covid-19 with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa CDC in May 2020.

    Tanzania has no plans to import Covid-19 vaccines

    Tanzania's Health Minister Dorothy Gwajima has said the East Africa nation has no plans to import Covid-19 vaccines at a time when there are fears that infections are rising.

    Her comment comes a week after President John Magufuli warned health officials against acquiring coronavirus vaccines, saying - without giving evidence - that they could harm the population.

  • Cathy - how is that possible? Where is the vaccine allotted to MO going? Seems the the sum of the IQs of your governor and the Gov of FL doesn't break 100.

  • edited February 2021

    cathyandsteve
    February 8
    meanwhile...Sam and British and Cathy are huddled in the corner crying because they are the forgotten ones :'(

    In my case, I'm getting a bit of karma. My wife is 1.5 years older than I am. A fact, that on occasion, I might remind her about. :D Well guess what that made her just over the threshold for getting the vaccine (her first shot is tomorrow) while I fall just under the threshold. All in fun, she is getting some pleasure in that fact. They are saying that the 65+ group, in our county, should start by the end of February.

    So, hopefully, by the middle of the March one of the three 'forgotten ones' will have received his first shot. Hopefully British and Cathy will get theirs before that. I really can't understand why Cathy can't get one, being a funeral home worker. Now British, being a Tauck swimsuit model probably doesn't help her priority. :D

    As I see the rate of vaccinations increase across the country (except maybe in Missouri :'( ) I think that we're on track to have 200,000,000 people vaccinated by mid-Summer.

  • edited February 2021

    Yes British. I saw that Tanzania nonsense. The WHO and others are trying to turn them around.

    That being said, I saw an article recently that said they expect there will be a ‘glut’ of vaccines in the U.S. in only a few months, and the problem will become one of getting people to take the shots. Around here there were many health care workers who refused the shots because since they were getting them first, they felt like they were being used as guinea pigs. There are those of us who want the shots, and there are those who don’t. I expect that many young people will need too be convinced.

    As far as K&T goes, as you know there is very little contact with those not in your group. So we will wait and see what Tauck decides. If it goes, and KLM goes, we will go. If not ... plan B.

  • Hi Sealord, you know I love you, what is your plan B? We are looking at other tour companies for future Africa tours, 2023 and 2024.
    We get news letters from the hospital we support in Karatu Tanzania, There is certainly Covid around. Are you willing to quarantine in Tanzania or Kenya if you test positive there before you return? That’s the part that concerns me.

  • Plan B is to try to find the Wind Surf. It is going to the Monte Carlo Grand Prix, and the Grand Prix people insist the race will happen, but they don’t know about spectators. Or we could board it for something else ... if it is sailing. Several ‘small’ cruise lines have recently announced that they will require proof of vaccinations starting in July. If after getting vaccinated, and getting tested prior to going to Africa, we tested positive I would hope to be at the Mt. Kenya Safari Club rather than the Serena in Nairobi. I’m too old to stay home whenever travel begins again. I was in the ‘Safety’ business for many years. You can’t eliminate risk, you just do your best to minimize it. Most accidents (53.6%) happen in the home ... “We gotta get out of this place!”.

  • Sing us a few bars! :D How appropriate though- it was sung by the "Animals." I knew you would say the Mt. Kenya Safari Club. You probably can't wait for a return visit to the spinners and weavers. :) The MKSC is much better than the Serena in Amboseli

    I've been checking the Winstar Cruises website daily. So far no changes to their return to sailing dates: Wind Surf – May 9, 2021

  • edited February 2021

    Yup. I was just there. We would probably do the Rome to Venice on the 24th. I would hate to go to Monaco to see the Grand Prix and end up watching it on TV. We have been there before when they were setting up for the race. Quite impressive. They are actually in the setting up process right now.

    That was actually the most popular and normally the closing song at the “Seaman to Admiral’s Club” in Danang.

    “If it’s the last thing we ever do.”

  • AlanS
    I've been checking the Winstar Cruises website daily. So far no changes to their return to
    sailing dates: Wind Surf – May 9, 2021

    Other ships indicate sailing dates as early as May 1, 2021. No sailings prior to that.

  • Hurray - I'm no longer "huddled in the corner crying because they are the forgotten ones :'("

    They opened up Walgreen's for giving vaccinations in Arizona to 65+. I just got both of my shots scheduled. The first is this Saturday, the second is March 13th.

    I'm very happy. This is much faster than I expected. I didn't think that I'd get even the first shot before March 13th.

  • Heard on the news this morning that CO will start getting 9000 more doses per week. Guess supply is ramping up, or the new administration found a stash that the previous admin misplaced?

  • Vaccine #2 in the arm today. Hooray. Wife gets her 2nd on the 21st. Making appointments in NJ is confusing and difficult. It took us at least 5 hours over several days to break through.

  • My husband and I got our first vaccines today! I had to check our county's website frequently but it paid off.

  • Both of us received our 2nd jab of the Pfizer vaccine 10 days ago. The only side effect was a sore arm for a few days. We continue to mask, social distance and wash our hands often.

  • edited February 2021

    Did everyone read the new CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated people.....once you have had the two shots and plus two more weeks....if you are in contact with someone who is positive, you will no longer be required to quarantine. This expires three months after your shots until further research shows that immunity lasts longer. Maybe my hubby and I if we ever get a vaccine and don’t get Covid before then, it could be a traveling advantage for us.....clinging on to any hope right now!
    Oh and double masking, been doing that for several weeks, certainly feel safer in Costco,, yes I know we could have food amd groceriy delivery....I just can’t give up choosing my own produce.

  • Getting first dose of Moderna tomorrow. I hope this bodes well for travel in the next several months. I expect our May trip to France will likely be canceled and our August trip to K&T is probably iffy considering the news about Tanzania and the vaccines. And, British, I agree with you—I don’t want anyone else selecting my produce, so we take advantage of senior hours at our grocer when it’s less busy. It will be nice to go to the store at a normal hour once fully vaccinated.

  • Smiling Sam - Which Walgreens were you able to make your appointment for the vaccine? I live in Tucson (just like you) however, we had absolutely no luck in getting the vaccine and are now scheduled for this Saturday but we will need to drive to Phoenix.

    Noreen
    Tucson, AZ

  • Noreen - I used the Walgreens.com website. I answered some questions, they replied with 'Schedule an Appointment', I entered my zip code, and they returned with a Walgreens 4 miles from my house with a date of this Saturday, I selected the time, then they responded requesting a time for my second shot at the same Walgreens 28 days later (in my case March 13th, since my first shot is February 13th), I selected the time, the website returned with a confirmation code/screen with the details of the two appointments.

    I think what happened was I was lucky enough to get into the system and book something before they were all gone. I booked at about 5:10AM on the first day.

  • Much to my surprise a friend just got a covid vaccine at our neighborhood CVS pharmacy.

  • edited February 2021

    Two friends of mine got vaccine appointments in the Tucson area at different Walgreens through using the Walgreens website early yesterday (before 6AM). One in Oro Valley for both 1st & 2nd doses and the other 1st dose in Marana; 2nd in Oro Valley.

    I went on this morning at 6:00 AM and they had only three appointments for 1st dose available at a Tucson Walgreens (Ajo Way) but no second dose appointments available. Later in the day there haven't been any appointments showing in the Oro Valley, Marana or Tucson area Walgreens. Guess you need to keep at it and hope for good timing. Fortunately the Saddlebrooke Pharmacy and a local senior assistance charity have put together a program to vaccinate residents in our HOA over the next several Saturdays.

  • In Tucson, when I drove my wife to get her shot, we got the same attention as kfnknfzk, but we got two lollipops!!! 😀

  • Oh man! A lollipop???? I didn't one of those! :/

  • After we got our vaccines, there were a few chairs to wait the 15 minutes inside, but we were encouraged to wait in our cars with instructions to turn on our flashers and honk if we had any issues. They had someone outside on the lookout for cars making the distress signal. We chose to wait inside!

  • cvc, hilarious. Anaphylactic shock can happen so quickly and be fatal, I’m even concerned that a pharmacist could handle someone having a severe episode. I mean, could they perform a tracheotomy. Imagine having to drag you out of your car.....

  • Just got my first Moderna vaccination shot. No lollipops given out at Walgreens, so I stopped at Nothing Bundt Cake on the way home. I just finished a lemon bundtlet to celebrate my first shot!!! I almost beat my personal best. I polished it off in 35 seconds. :D:D:D

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