Repost from FORBES
by: Christopher Elliott
March 27, 2021 8:25 AM
With the summer travel season just ahead, people can't stop talking about how to have a safe trip. But that's the thing: Talk is cheap. What actually works?
"As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more widely available, the rules for travel continue to shift," says Eugene Delaune, an emergency physician and medical director for travel insurance provider Allianz Partners. “With summer soon approaching and everyone itching with the travel bug, you’ll want to feel confident when you take that first post-lockdown trip." Here's what Jan Howell is doing. She had to cancel a trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico last year. She rescheduled her vacation for next month.
"My health insurance covers me out of the country," she says. "I have a Medjet membership to get me moved home if I’m hospitalized. But I also purchased, for the first time ever, a policy through my timeshare company that covers everyone coming to visit me and the cost of additional condo or hotel time if someone gets sick or tests positive and has to stay longer."
Howell, a retired nurse, says she's doing other things to keep her and her party "extra safe." That includes preparing and eating meals at home rather than in restaurants.
How to have a safe trip
But let's get real, fellow travelers. You can follow all the advice in this story. You can get vaccinated, research your destination from top to bottom, buy insurance, and minimize your risks. But there's only one way to stay 100% safe: Stay home and avoid contact with anyone.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) puts it bluntly. "Travel increases your chance of spreading and getting COVID-19," it says. "Delay travel and stay home to protect yourself and others from COVID-19, even if you are vaccinated." Observers expect the CDC's travel recommendations to change soon, allowing people who have been vaccinated more freedom to travel. Even so, the only way to be absolutely safe is to stay home.
But that's not likely. Many Americans haven't traveled in more than a year, and they're itching to get out. A recent American Express Travel survey suggested there's strong travel demand. Almost 9 in 10 respondents (87%) said that having a trip planned in the future gives them "something to look forward to," according to Amex. And more than half (56%) said they miss traveling so much that they are willing to book a trip now even if they might have to cancel it in the future.