We are scheduled to leave on our trip to the Alps two weeks from today. We are still not sure if we will actually go due to concerns about Covid-19, specifically the Delta variant. Cases in the US are continuing to rise in dramatic fashion. Now we are also reading about many ‘breakthrough” cases of fully vaccinated people, and also of the waning effect of the vaccination.
Stephanie will reach the 8 month threshold for the projected need of a vaccine booster shot about three days after we arrive back home. For me, my 8 month date for a potential booster shot is later, December 5, so in theory, I am better protected while we are on the trip.
We have continued to go forward with our planning efforts. Yesterday, we went ahead and reserved a car for pick-up in Innsbruck, Austria, about half way into the trip. It is fully refundable, but we were required to pre-pay through AutoEurope, our preferred rental car broker.
We have set an initial deadline of August 30 to try and make an informed decision on “go” or “no go”. If we don’t feel we have sufficient information, we can cancel two accommodation reservations, one for Lucerne, and one for Zermatt, and avoid paying any additional non-refundable costs.
We have already looked at alternate accommodations for those two locations and have added them to a list in our planning documents. Luckily, there are quite a few places still available, although they may not be the best places we could stay. That buys us a few more days for making a decision, or seeing if any restrictions are placed on travelers to Europe from the US due to excessive Covid cases here. We are constantly monitoring a few European websites that specifically contain information on travel restriction changes.
We have purchased a supply of KN95 and N95 respirators to take with us, and will also look to add more if need be while we are in Europe. They use a different designation for their approved masks, but it is similar to the KN95/N95 equivalents. Apparently, mask mandates are in place for any public transportation, and they are required to be real masks, not homemade and/or neck gator types, at least in the information we have read.
Switzerland is about equal to the US in overall vaccination rates for the general population, a little over 50%. However, their access to vaccines was not as prolific as we had here, nor as early, so they are probably a little behind due to the timeframes of vaccine availability. We have not checked lately for the vaccination numbers for Austria.
We have scanned our CDC Vaccination Cards and have made several laminated B&W copies for spares. We will be getting some color copies made and also laminate those. Hopefully we will be able to use authentic looking copies, but we will also be taking the originals just in case. I have not been able to determine the availability of any European Union (EU) vaccine passport apps for travelers from the US. Vaccine mandates are much more utilized in the EU than in the US, but they also have a EU wide app for proving your vaccine status. We are a little concerned about always having to have our original CDC cards with us, as well as needing to show some sort of ID. Just having to have those items with you at all times exposes us to potential loss. We normally have color copies of our passports with us at all times, and try to keep the original passports in the hotel safe.
It is unfortunate that we are now in a position of limbo as the trip approaches. We may have to do a lot of preparation work that may be in vain if we are restricted from going due to the number of Covid cases in the US. Not quite the excitement level that we normally have this close to departure, but welcome to the new Covid World.
UPDATE
This is an addition to this post from earlier today, I read a new headline late today about a vote that will be taken tomorrow, August 26, by the EU governing body on whether to continue to allow US citizens to travel to the EU. The threshold that was established earlier in the summer that lifted the ban for travel to Europe from the US was 75 cases/100,000 US persons. The current metric in the US is 507 cases/100,000 persons, well above the set limit. It will be curious to see if the member nations opt for safety of their citizens or for their economies since a ban on US travel will surely impact the latter.
It seems that with such a high case rate, and with the numbers still climbing that a decision will be made for us tomorrow by the EU. I can’t fathom them allowing continued travel with the current case numbers already being almost 7 times the threshold. Time will tell, apparently fairly shortly from now!