Coronavirus in Massachusetts (schools, university, childcare)

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by bohemka

I'm sorry, your evidence of the border being closed is a reality television show?

No it isn't. But the borders are still closed.

https://www.travelandleisure.com/tra...pick-up-in-may

"In January, Biden extended a ban on non-American citizens coming from the UK, many European countries, and Brazil, as well as blocked most travel from South Africa amid the spread of new variants of the virus."

so yes the ban is still on. I'd love to go back to Canada but can't even after I get vaccinated a few weeks. I'd love to go back to Europe but that's on hold indefinitely.

It looks like May is when we expect somewhat of a reopening.

here's the January numbers for Bradley International Airport, the second busiest in the northeast

https://bradleyairport.com/wp-conten...er-Numbers.pdf

enplanements (coming in)
Air Canada zero
Delta zero
United and affiliates zero
Jetblue 208
Aer Lingus (Ireland) zero
204 passengers is the total for international

deplanements (leaving)
Air Canada zero
Delta zero
United Zero
JetBlue 284
Aer Lingus zero

Domestic has been increasing but there's hardly anything out of Bradley. Obviously it isn't JFK or LAX but

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019...countries.html

If you notice President Biden didn't change or modify what Trump did with China.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...virus-disease/

Student visas are F1, J1 and M1. None of those are exempt. The ones that are are IR-4, IH-4, A-1,A-2,C-2,C-3,E-1,G-1,G-2,G-3,G-4 Nato1 to nato 4 or nato6. The words "student" "academia" "college", "education" and "university" are not found in any of the executive orders issued by Trump and Biden.

From the arguments I remember last fall with UMass and UConn is that if you are on a student visa you can stay but if you leave you can't come back unless it's a online class. Many chose to stay. Besides it can be costly for airtravel multiple times across continents while attending higher ed for four or so years. In a sense it made more sense to stay because of the vaccines. The US has the highest access to the most effective vaccines.

It might be interesting to read how academia deal with this in 1918 which obviously we did not fly to Europe let alone Asia, it was by boat.

[sawyer2]

Originally Posted by bohemka

I'm sorry, your evidence of the border being closed is a reality television show?

....and some random Nigerian guy he was talking to

mdovell - I love your perpetual 'sky is falling' posts, peppered with the 'I know a guy who.. '

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

....and some random Nigerian guy he was talking to

mdovell - I love your perpetual 'sky is falling' posts, peppered with the 'I know a guy who.. '

not some random guy. A woman actually. Private sector companies are much more apt to sponsor vs government. Small towns don't have the time, money or energy to sponsor visas.

Visas are odd things because generally they are for one use. Work, education, marriage etc. But many of the terms and conditions on them lack flexibility. For example under the marriage visa you cannot work for 90 days (which gets to that shows name) so it's a bit odd to take someone and they legally cannot work for 90 days and then try to find a job and explain that. Of course with other visas say if someone has kids that complicates this dramatically. It's almost like an adult internship. An exemption to a labor practice or compensation in the name of "experience". Also keep in mind visas have to be sponsored by someone else and they are legally responsible for what happens during duration. Depending on the circumstances it can be like having another child. Student visas can also invoke 9/11 because that's why the real ID was created and implemented. to note most people that are here "illegally" are those that overstayed their visa, not some migrant farm worker that climbed a fence.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by lrfox

It's kind of laughable. Meanwhile, my sister flew home from London yesterday for a visit and said the flight was about 3/4 full. We did a little plane spotting from Constitution Beach on Sunday - British Airways, Emirates, Qatar, Korean Air, Air France, Icelandair, Turkish Airlines, Japan Airlines, Swiss International, Lufthansa, and more are all still coming and going with passengers. But hey, a couple of people on a reality show are having trouble, so the border must be closed.

Yeah, but until vaccine passports are a thing and we can actually get one that is better than a flimsy piece of paper, the quarantine rules prevent us from even remotely thinking about Europe. The number of transatlantic flights is also way off from 15 months ago. There are usually two BOS-LHR morning flights. Virgin Atlantic is running theirs but BA hasn't resumed the morning flight yet. We don't do red eyes to Europe so our travel option today is Virgin to Heathrow, overnight in a quarantine hotel, and fly to a country that will take our vaccination credentials the next day. Greece has announced May 17th but I wouldn't tie up money booking flights yet. At best, we'll do a trip around October 1.



I gave up and blocked mdovell a couple of weeks ago.

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yeah, but until vaccine passports are a thing and we can actually get one that is better than a flimsy piece of paper, the quarantine rules prevent us from even remotely thinking about Europe. The number of transatlantic flights is also way off from 15 months ago. There are usually two BOS-LHR morning flights. Virgin Atlantic is running theirs but BA hasn't resumed the morning flight yet. We don't do red eyes to Europe so our travel option today is Virgin to Heathrow, overnight in a quarantine hotel, and fly to a country that will take our vaccination credentials the next day. Greece has announced May 17th but I wouldn't tie up money booking flights yet. At best, we'll do a trip around October 1.

That's kinda what the show illustrated a bit and what I went though trying to go to Europe last year. It's like you have to go to one country to go to another and then another. The EU tries to act like one country but it isn't a United States of Europe yet. At least domestically we can fly without restrictions.

[lrfox]

Originally Posted by GeoffD

Yeah, but until vaccine passports are a thing and we can actually get one that is better than a flimsy piece of paper, the quarantine rules prevent us from even remotely thinking about Europe. The number of transatlantic flights is also way off from 15 months ago. There are usually two BOS-LHR morning flights. Virgin Atlantic is running theirs but BA hasn't resumed the morning flight yet. We don't do red eyes to Europe so our travel option today is Virgin to Heathrow, overnight in a quarantine hotel, and fly to a country that will take our vaccination credentials the next day. Greece has announced May 17th but I wouldn't tie up money booking flights yet. At best, we'll do a trip around October 1.

We booked Iceland (on a flexible ticket on Icelandair) for August as they're allowing vaccinated Americans to travel without quarantine even with the flimsy cards (I've laminated and photographed mine) and we're optimistic about where we'll be. I'm not banking on going (even if we're allowed) though. But for most of Europe, we're still a ways from even thinking about it for exactly that reason (I'm not paying thousands to lock myself in a hotel for 2 weeks).

You're right, even though there are still flights, they're nothing compared to what they were 15 months ago. And even the flights that are coming over are fairly lightly loaded (cargo is the big driver for many of them to continue operations). Almost all passengers are American citizens living abroad (my sister and her husband are in this camp) or a very select group of non-Americans. But being American doesn't prevent you from contracting a variant abroad and bringing it home to the states. And with thousands of Americans still coming/going overseas via Logan, you can't say the borders are "closed."

[sawyer2]

I'm tempted to book some flights to EU now for late summer - prices still look relatively good, and change/cancellation terms are very favorable at some airlines.

[GeoffD]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

I'm tempted to book some flights to EU now for late summer - prices still look relatively good, and change/cancellation terms are very favorable at some airlines.

I'm toying with a summer solstice trip to Copenhagen. Boston-LHR on points on the morning Virgin or BA flight. Overnight at Heathrow and hopefully not in a quarantine hotel by then. 12:45pm flight to CPH the next day. It's $123 round trip on BA. Probably $200 with seat assignment and a roll-aboard. I think I can still use a voucher from a cancelled Virgin Atlantic flight to get home. We watch the Swedish version of the Wallander series so it would include a car rental and over the bridge to Ystad for a few days. Maybe 4 nights in London on frequent stayer points before flying home.

[OutdoorLover]

Quite different than Copenhagen, but if you haven't been, I can recommend visiting Norway's second largest city, Bergen, on its west coast. One of my best friends from grad school is from there - a very quaint old city along their beautiful coast and a great jumping off point to tour the fjords.

https://www.visitnorway.com/places-t...norway/bergen/

[mdovell]

Originally Posted by sawyer2

I'm tempted to book some flights to EU now for late summer - prices still look relatively good, and change/cancellation terms are very favorable at some airlines.

My girlfriend wanted to go to Venice last year with her son but the flight obviously can't happen and it's been a nightmares with TAP Portugal going back and forth. European lockdowns were much harsher than US ones. Some couldn't even travel within a given region of their country in Europe so would be the point of getting off a plane in Northern Italy if you are stuck to that region of the country? Between US law, EU law and the pandemic it's just been a voucher. Get everything in writing that you can about the terms of a flight. What qualifies as a delay, cancellation, booking, voucher, gift card etc.

As for being closed I'd argue that the vast majority of people that want to travel outside of the USA probably can't. I have a REAL ID and valid US passport and no arrest records or debts and if I drove to Canada or Mexico the border is closed. I know Americans that moved overseas and haven't visited here since this started (UK, Thailand, South Korea, Spain etc). I've been to Canada a few times and can say it's usually a simple crossing. Pandemic changed that. Way back in '08 I was in china and they made it pretty clear that any exposure to poultry (bird flu) would cause you to be isolated. In France in the '90's I saw heavily armed guards in Paris. Sometimes we mock security but it is much harder to cross borders now.