Originally Posted by
Xyzzy
I'm much happier with a US policy driven by scientists and d
ctors -- however overcautious and restrained their approach -- than the way US policy was driven by TFG, based on optics and the need to place blame elsewhere.
I think the problem here is that it clearly isn't.
US has been open to many countries with seriously high cases / terrible testing / problematic variants, and closed to countries where COVID is well under control / at significantly lower rates than it is in the US.
If the policies looked like they were based on any sort of data I imagine a lot fewer people would have issues with them. Not least because you'd probably be able to work out when they were going to re-open to certain countries. Something like the "EU’s List of Epidemiologically Safe Countries" system:
https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/eu-...amid-covid-19/ and the EDC recommendations...
- Green countries are considered those in which the infection rate is less than 50 and test positivity is less than four per cent or if the infection rate is less than 75 and the test positivity rate is less than one per cent
- Orange countries are considered those that report less than 50 positive cases and test positivity is four per cent or more; if the infection rates are between 50 to 75 and test positivity is one per cent or more, or if the positive cases are between 75 to 200 and test positivity is less than four per cent
- Red countries are those with 75 to 200 positive cases and test positivity of four per cent or more; or, if the infection rates are more than 200 but less than 500
- Dark red countries are considered those with more than 500 positive cases
- Grey countries are considered those with a testing rate lower than 300 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, or there isn’t available data for the country to be categorised
Though obviously there's significant scope to improve that system too (by taking into account vaccinations rates for instance).
Anyway, I've just moved my August flights to November... though I have zero confidence that the US will be using any sort of sensible system by then either (it's just the next period I can make the trip work).