US Travel Insurance FCDO Advice

[G82]

Just to reassure people these cases were forecast as part of the ‘exit wave’ process and aren’t a surprise or unexpected. Therefore it should have little impact on what has been planned already as both the UK and US would have known this would be the situation. At some point the knee jerk reaction will have to stop and pragmatic plans will need to be in place in order for business and travel to resume. Hopefully that time is now.

[fiffio]

Originally Posted by G82

Just to reassure people these cases were forecast as part of the ‘exit wave’ process and aren’t a surprise or unexpected. Therefore it should have little impact on what has been planned already as both the UK and US would have known this would be the situation. At some point the knee jerk reaction will have to stop and pragmatic plans will need to be in place in order for business and travel to resume. Hopefully that time is now.

See more...

An exit wave was to be expected but it’s nice they decided to give up on the young, many won’t have had thier 2nd jag yet so not fully protected and having had only one shot only offer 30% protection against delta.

Another month and the wave would have been so much smaller and more manageable.

Russia and Dubai are on level 4 and can travel to the states so it’s not terminal for our chances to go but it shows the world is watching our science experiment.

Israel looking at bringing back some restrictions and they have more vaccinated than us.

[sully301]

Originally Posted by logic500

Just an update on our plans.

I checked the BA app this morning, and the flights to Cancun I enquired about were noe on there as confirmed flights! 😅

Delighted we thought, wow flights moved and at no extra cost.

Tried calling couldn't get thru as usual.

So I tweeted BA, and they've replied...

Hi Richard. We've checked your booking and can see that the flight to Cancun was added to your booking and sent to our Fares team to check the cost to change. Our Fares team have advised that we're unable to reroute bookings where a proactive upgrade has been applied. I've sent your booking to our Fares team to check the cost to change to World Traveller and World Traveller Plus. David

So it won't be a free change.

Why can't they just email to keep us in the loop.

Back into limbo!

See more...

What's a proactive upgrade?

[DisneyCupcake]

Originally Posted by sully301

What's a proactive upgrade?

See more...

There are some types of upgrades which can be seen online. If you have flight only booked directly with BA without any connections - say for example LHR-MCO return - an upgrade offer called a Proactive Online UpGrade (POUG) may appear on Manage my Booking or in the App. These can change, go away entirely or not appear at all and bookings made with BA Holidays or agents don't qualify for a POUG. There is another type of upgrade is called Airport Upgrade Promotion (AUP).

Edited to add not everyone will be offered these upgrades.

[pdcdad]

Originally Posted by G82

Just to reassure people these cases were forecast as part of the ‘exit wave’ process and aren’t a surprise or unexpected. Therefore it should have little impact on what has been planned already as both the UK and US would have known this would be the situation. At some point the knee jerk reaction will have to stop and pragmatic plans will need to be in place in order for business and travel to resume. Hopefully that time is now.

See more...

Hopefully they see that we are achieving our targets to vaccinate and yes we have high numbers at the moment but as you say expected. The numbers are no where near as bad as previous peaks. We have to at some point get on with things in a safe manner. The airlines and holiday companies will surely not be able to survive unless we open up and stay that way. Sensible precautions taken and testing as needed. Fingers crossed both sides take the pragmatic route which will make it as safe as they can.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by G82

Just to reassure people these cases were forecast as part of the ‘exit wave’ process and aren’t a surprise or unexpected. Therefore it should have little impact on what has been planned already as both the UK and US would have known this would be the situation. At some point the knee jerk reaction will have to stop and pragmatic plans will need to be in place in order for business and travel to resume. Hopefully that time is now.

See more...

Yup, it was always expected that cases would rise at each step when we relaxed restrictions. Surprisingly, when we relaxed the first few restrictions cases didn't rise as much as expected.

Unfortunately, the much more transmissable Delta variant then came along. As described in the roadmap either this year, we then had to assess whether this would cause a significant, unsustainable increase in the number of hospitalisations. We needed time to assess whether or not the vaccines were effective against this variant. There is now good evidence that the vaccines do work against it.

Hence, we have now removed pretty much all remaining social distancing restrictions as was set out in Step 4 of the roadmap released all the way back in February. We have also relaxed some of our travel restrictions; vaccinated people can now go to amber countries and not self-isolate on return. So potentially many of us could go to the USA if/when Biden allows it.

Of course, we have removed all restrictions at a time when only around 55% of our population are fully vaccinated and a more transmissable variant is the dominant strain in the UK. That means there's around 30 million people who are not yet fully protected. Admittedly most of those are young and not vulnerable, so are less likely to die from COVID. But, other than the new variant which is causing cases to rise more steeply than we might've expected, it's all as planned.

There is a much higher number of people in the USA who are not yet protected. I must admit, I'm not sure whether they made sure all their old and vulnerable were vaccinated first? It's possible they have a higher proportion of their old and vulnerable still at risk; they will certainly have a higher actual number of old and vulnerable still unvaccinated.

It's come a couple of weeks later than we had originally hoped, but we are pretty much on track compared to what was predicted back in February. Now we have to hope that our hospitals are able to cope going forward, what with the large increase to their waiting lists for non-COVID conditions over the last 18 months, having to treat the slowly increasing numbers of COVID patients entering the hospitals, and staff having to isolate because they've tested positive or been near someone who tested positive.

[aprilshack]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

Yup, it was always expected that cases would rise at each step when we relaxed restrictions. Surprisingly, when we relaxed the first few restrictions cases didn't rise as much as expected.

Unfortunately, the much more transmissable Delta variant then came along. As described in the roadmap either this year, we then had to assess whether this would cause a significant, unsustainable increase in the number of hospitalisations. We needed time to assess whether or not the vaccines were effective against this variant. There is now good evidence that the vaccines do work against it.

Hence, we have now removed pretty much all remaining social distancing restrictions as was set out in Step 4 of the roadmap released all the way back in February. We have also relaxed some of our travel restrictions; vaccinated people can now go to amber countries and not self-isolate on return. So potentially many of us could go to the USA if/when Biden allows it.

Of course, we have removed all restrictions at a time when only around 55% of our population are fully vaccinated and a more transmissable variant is the dominant strain in the UK. That means there's around 30 million people who are not yet fully protected. Admittedly most of those are young and not vulnerable, so are less likely to die from COVID. But, other than the new variant which is causing cases to rise more steeply than we might've expected, it's all as planned.

There is a much higher number of people in the USA who are not yet protected. I must admit, I'm not sure whether they made sure all their old and vulnerable were vaccinated first? It's possible they have a higher proportion of their old and vulnerable still at risk; they will certainly have a higher actual number of old and vulnerable still unvaccinated.

It's come a couple of weeks later than we had originally hoped, but we are pretty much on track compared to what was predicted back in February. Now we have to hope that our hospitals are able to cope going forward, what with the large increase to their waiting lists for non-COVID conditions over the last 18 months, having to treat the slowly increasing numbers of COVID patients entering the hospitals, and staff having to isolate because they've tested positive or been near someone who tested positive.

See more...

Wonder what Biden will do considering anyone can come forward for a vaccine and people wanting it has slowed to a crawl. Will he open thinking people have had their chance? Vaccinated people only? Not open borders for god knows how long? He can't make people get their shots so I wonder when the penny will drop that he can't wait around forever.

[Pupbelly]

Just reading this, and it doesn't read particularly great, if nothing else it shows the USA (Florida) is struggling still:

clickorlando/news/lo...ases-increase/

[SleepingBeauty]

Originally Posted by Nimbus

Yup, it was always expected that cases would rise at each step when we relaxed restrictions. Surprisingly, when we relaxed the first few restrictions cases didn't rise as much as expected.

Unfortunately, the much more transmissable Delta variant then came along. As described in the roadmap either this year, we then had to assess whether this would cause a significant, unsustainable increase in the number of hospitalisations. We needed time to assess whether or not the vaccines were effective against this variant. There is now good evidence that the vaccines do work against it.

Hence, we have now removed pretty much all remaining social distancing restrictions as was set out in Step 4 of the roadmap released all the way back in February. We have also relaxed some of our travel restrictions; vaccinated people can now go to amber countries and not self-isolate on return. So potentially many of us could go to the USA if/when Biden allows it.

Of course, we have removed all restrictions at a time when only around 55% of our population are fully vaccinated and a more transmissable variant is the dominant strain in the UK. That means there's around 30 million people who are not yet fully protected. Admittedly most of those are young and not vulnerable, so are less likely to die from COVID. But, other than the new variant which is causing cases to rise more steeply than we might've expected, it's all as planned.

There is a much higher number of people in the USA who are not yet protected. I must admit, I'm not sure whether they made sure all their old and vulnerable were vaccinated first? It's possible they have a higher proportion of their old and vulnerable still at risk; they will certainly have a higher actual number of old and vulnerable still unvaccinated.

It's come a couple of weeks later than we had originally hoped, but we are pretty much on track compared to what was predicted back in February. Now we have to hope that our hospitals are able to cope going forward, what with the large increase to their waiting lists for non-COVID conditions over the last 18 months, having to treat the slowly increasing numbers of COVID patients entering the hospitals, and staff having to isolate because they've tested positive or been near someone who tested positive.

See more...

Fortunately about 85% of our elderly are fully vaccinated.

The resistant are younger people.

[2point]

Originally Posted by Pupbelly

Just reading this, and it doesn't read particularly great, if nothing else it shows the USA (Florida) is struggling still:

clickorlando/news/lo...ases-increase/

See more...

I read that and found it encouraging - it's not Covid that's driving the ICU capacity -

AdventHealth released this statement late Monday:
“It is typical for hospitals to have capacity figures in the 90th percentile even in pre-COVID times, so these numbers do not cause for concern or alarm. While we have seen an increase in hospitalizations in Central Florida over the last few weeks, we still have significantly fewer COVID patients compared to what we saw during the peak. Even during the peak, at no point did we reach capacity.
It’s important to realize that capacity numbers are snapshots in time. Our hospitals are designed in such a way that spaces are flexible and expandable. We have sufficient supplies of ventilators, monitors and other specialized equipment in order to quickly convert spaces in the hospital to both standard and ICU level rooms, should they be needed. AdventHealth also has an extensive health care system in place in Central Florida so we can locate patients to the facility that best matches the level of care they need.”