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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's No Way Americans Will Cancel Their Travel Plans
The AtlanticOmicron introduced itself to the world only a few weeks ago, but its made quite an impression. In the United Kingdom, COVID-19 cases hit an all-time record on Thursday. And Friday. Theres much we still dont know about the new strain, but as my colleague Sarah Zhang has written, we know enough to see that Omicron is about to tear through the United States. Here, Omicron cases are now doubling every two days, and the variants contagiousnessand knack for duping our vaccinesis ratcheting up breakthrough infections. Sports leagues have started rescheduling games, restaurants are closing for a little while, and some schools are going remote.
All of this has left many would-be travelers nervously glancing at their calendar and asking themselves another round of terrible pandemic questions: How bad will things be by Christmas? By New Years? And when do things get so bad that I need to cancel my holiday plans?
Whether you should travel over the next couple of weeks is not something Americans are getting an easy answer to at the moment. So far, the CDC is plowing forward with the same old guidelines: If youre fully vaccinated and not experiencing any COVID symptoms, mask up and off you go. Anthony Fauci and other public-health figures, while urging caution with Omicron, have been reluctant to tell people to stay home. Unlike last year, when virtually no one was vaccinated and the CDC point-blank told Americans not to travel, the fuzzy messaging comes in part from the fact that so much now depends on peoples individual situationswhether theyre vaccinated, what precautions theyre taking, and whom theyre going to see. This year, everyone has to make a choice all on their own.
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)... treating the unvaxed like they outliers they are.
Count me among those who are done with coddling the stupid, we got shit to do and they're wasting time.
brooklynite
(94,757 posts)uponit7771
(90,367 posts)... the enforcement outside of federal space IMHO.
Show your vaxed or wear a mask and isolate, treat the willing unvaxed as the outlier in society not the ones who stop the rest of us from moving on past Covid
Johonny
(20,895 posts)Driving out to a ARBNB with an isolated guest house for 4 days. Not sure why my time there is anymore dangerous than staying home where the major concern is going to the store etc . . . It's January when schools reopen that I have my concerns.
SharonClark
(10,014 posts)2naSalit
(86,822 posts)Avoided making any plans for the holidays because I could see this coming months ago, even without omicron delta was going to be a problem, and here we are. I am glad I made plans for this as I am back in self imposed lockdown, all groceried up and got no place I want to go.
BSdetect
(8,999 posts)They both work in medical related areas (Dr and MBA) but feel there are going to be massive infections this time.
It is worth taking precautions around xmas.
femmedem
(8,208 posts)Last I read you were worried about a probable exposure shortly before your trip to visit family.
Wingus Dingus
(8,059 posts)or you have some sort of other special circumstance going on, there's no reason to hide at home. Vast majority of us are going to be fine, if vaccinated--most of the unvaccinated are probably going to be fine too.
VarryOn
(2,343 posts)As far as I know, all my family has been vaxxed. In any event, were going ahead with all plans. Havent given a moments thought to canceling anything.
Wingus Dingus
(8,059 posts)to be vaccinated, which drives my poor mother nuts--but other than that just about everyone else I know is vaccinated.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Degraders to the left of us, degraders to our right, stuck in the middle with even more.
When I look back at this era, it'll be the moral and spiritual sickness that'll stand out.
I've never seen anything like it
Happy Hoosier
(7,406 posts)We skipped last Thanksgiving and Christmas. We skipped THIS Thanksgiving.
But my in-laws are quite old (in their 90's). They are vaxxed and boostered. We are vaxxed and boostered.
The fly in the ointment? My dysfunctional, right-wing nut brother-in-law, who, at 51, still lives at home, is unvaxxed. Fortunately, he is a bit of recluse and we rarely see him when we are there. Still a BIT of a risk.
But my wife is very sensitive to her parents' age and her sense that any time she sees them could be her last. So we will risk it.