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Yesterday the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and U.S. State Department advised Americans not to cross the border into Canada because of a rising number of COVID-19 cases.
Last week, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added Aruba to its list of countries with the highest risk of COVID-19 infection for travelers.
CNN reported that the island is now considered a Category 4 risk level and Americans have been warned against traveling there due to the risk. Other countries on the list include Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Germany, and Greece. The CDC lists any country with more than 500 cases out of 100,000 residents as the high-risk category.
“Because of the current situation in Aruba, even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 variants,” the CDC said in its notice.
These notices and warnings despite the fact that Dr. Angelique Coetzee, the chairwoman of the South African Medical Association, who first sounded the variant alarm, said those who got it had “unusual but mild symptoms.”
She said the new variant “… presents mild disease with symptoms being sore muscles and tiredness for a day or two not feeling well. So far, we have detected that those infected do not suffer the loss of taste or smell. They might have a slight cough. There are no prominent symptoms. Of those infected some are currently being treated at home.”
Yet, these imposed mandates are destroying hundreds of millions of lives and livelihoods (See “TOP U.S. HOTELS ARE IN DEPRESSION OR RECESSION,” “GLOBAL TRAVEL INDUSTRY REELING” and “LOCKDOWNS COST U.S. $1.1 TRILLION IN LOST TRAVEL INCOME.”)
Don’t Take Me On A Sea Cruise
Cruise lines have taken every precaution to prove to passengers that they can travel safely as long as everyone aboard is vaccinated and has tested negative prior to the voyage. But there is not a ship operating in U.S. waters that is COVID-free. The CDC has now recommended that Americans avoid cruises.
The report said that as of last week, 91 ships had a “yellow” status, which means there is COVID infection on board. Royal Caribbean announced that it will cancel four of its ships “in an abundance of caution,” due to the increase of Omicron infections. The company made the announcement despite its testing mandate and its pro-vaccine policy for passengers and crew.
“We regret having to cancel our guests’ long-awaited vacations and appreciate their loyalty and understanding,” the statement said. “Our top priority is always the well-being of our guests, our crew and the communities we visit.”
The CDC echoed the company’s concern and said even “fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants.”
“The virus that causes COVID-19 spreads easily between people in close quarters on board ships, and the chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is very high, even if you are fully vaccinated and have received a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose,” the CDC said.
Government health officials have been forced to acknowledge that breakthrough COVID-19 cases are a fact of life, and have been working to move the goalposts.
Getting vaccinated once held the promise of returning to normal life, without fear of infection. But that narrative has now evolved to mean the vaccines only prevent serious illness. This despite the facts, as we have detailed, that the Omicron virus symptoms are mild.
The issue of infection on cruises, of course, is not isolated to U.S. ports. A German-operated cruise ship that had been stuck at a port in Lisbon prior to New Year’s Eve was forced to cancel its itinerary due to a breakout of cases among passengers and crew. Reuters reported that there were 52 confirmed cases among its fully vaccinated crew.
TREND FORECAST: The travel industry likely will be among the last to fully recover from the COVID Wars.
Many hotels have permanently re-structured operations to permanently cut jobs and reduce guest services, making hotel stays less alluring. (See “2020 SHUTDOWN PERMANENTLY ERASED JOBS,” 20 Jul 2021.)
Several companies have permanently cut budgets for business travel. (See “TRAVEL AND TOURISM: CRASHING,” 21 Jul 2021.)
As we have forecast previously, the travel industry will recover, but only as a shrunken version of what it was before 2020.
Should politicians continue to fight the COVID War and Presstitutes continue to sell COVID Fear and Hysteria, the travel sector across the business and consumer spectrum will deeply decline. However, with economies sinking into deep recession as a result of the COVID mandates, we maintain our trend forecast that the COVID War will begin to wind-down late March, mid-April.