mikeyfly

I imagine it's in the hundreds, the NIEs have allowed multi entry now, but have been very very restrictive and many business travellers with critical needs rejected.

GUWonder

Academia-related travelers from Europe to the US have jumped up a lot in volume over this time last year; this while business travelers from Europe to the US don’t seem to be lower in number now than at this time last year.

the810

Covid is likely to be much less of a concern after the next wave. Look at other similar pandemics + the speed at which delta variant spreads. The data suggests a brutal wave ahead of us, but then it should be over.

​​​​​That being said, I expect some countries to remain militant in the long term and have started to plan my life accordingly, including possible permanent relocation to a more pragmatic place than where I used to live before. This mess really opened my eyes regarding where do I want to be when s*** hits the fan.

Bretmd

Yes, there will always be another wave. But each wave will not always come with a crush on the medical system accompanied with increased hospitalization and death. When we start getting waves that have lesser healthcare related impacts, we can expect the mask restriction to go away.

VCURamFan

The problem with that line of thinking is that there is never an actual criteria for getting out of said restrictions. It will never be "good enough."

maniac78

Masks work which is why vaccinations aren't needed. Or is it vaccinations are needed because masks don't work. Who knows. Anyway you can use whatever kind of masks material you want because what's important is you wear something on your face. I wear a mosquito net like mask and it's as effective as anything else.

BuildingMyBento

hurnik

I think the more accurate saying should be:
Masks mitigate

I think Pre-DELTA variant, the data for air travel was fairly strong that masks on airplane prevented (except maybe one case?) you from getting infected (again, specifically on a plane where social distancing isn't possible and obviously it's "indoors"). However, I'm not convinced that'll hold true with DELTA Variant.

For all else, I believe the data is that masks offer *some* protection (hence the word mitigate) again, pre-DELTA varianta I thought it was something like:
If you wore the mask, (and infected), you would help prevent infecting someone else by like 40-60%.
However, if you were not infected, and you wore a mask it only helped prevent infection by like 20% (I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head).
Thus, if everyone wore masks, then it's like what, 60-80% prevention of infection (absent social distancing).

8420PR

It might not fit what some people want to hear, but there is clear evidence that when the benefit of the restrictions is less than the cost, the restrictions are removed. E.g. the general mask recommendation was removed in US for vaccinated people (and only re-imposed because of Delta). European countries are removing restrictions as hospitals empty, UK has removed all restrictions leveraging their head start on vaccinations.

The ultimate reality is if enough Americans were vaccinated that ICU's were not full of covid cases then the US transportation mask mandate would not have been extended (as in the UK).

stupidhead

My guess - Masks are required forever, unless you pay TSA $100 a year for some 'Known Traveler' membership thing. This is what happened with TSA's Water Bottle(TM) fear porn security theater.

IMO as a vaccinated person the baseline risk of serious illness from this virus (I do NOT give a flying rat's you know what about asymptomatic infection - that's what you want to build immunity) is no longer worth mitigating because it's significantly lower than what I consider to be 'acceptable'. So any marginal benefit a mask might offer is zero while the cost is the inconvenience and my glasses fogging up for hours on end. I no longer wear a mask unless explicitly asked to do so and I no longer ask anyone to wear one near me.

I say lift the mandates immediately and let people do what they want. Or the airlines should be asking the FAA to station marshals on every flight to enforce this (and as a taxpayer I would NEVER agree to my tax dollars going to this). Cabin crew have enough to do and you don't need to add 'Mask Cop' to that list. There is no limiting principle in these restrictions so they'll keep moving the goalposts indefinitely.

invisible

This is the reason why after 10 years living in Singapore I am closing this chapter in my life and going back to US despite having no job or place to live.

With delta, effectiveness (or lacking) of vaccines and for 1.5 years facing daily reality that you need to wear mask when you are alone on a beach and carry government mandated Bluetooth tracker to enter any building, and if that tracker identifies you as a ‘possible contact’, you will be locked in government isolation facility for weeks regardless of your vaccination status or test results and without any possibility to appeal the decision - knowing that this will be ‘new normal’ for years to come - I choose not to live in this ‘new normal’.

And I understand that I have this luxury to choose where to live. A lot of people don’t.

And people are complaining about masks in flight…

FlyerEC

Bon voyage , invisible ..

Thankfully , “ relaxing “ somewhat in Singapore .. & safe unlike surrounding countries and beyond .
Figuring when to fly as like quite a few who are unable to don masks for lengthy periods .. the HKT ‘ sandbox ‘ just has to many requirements / restrictions to test out .
LH flights only possible if SH ones are doable , we shall see . First LH maybe EU rather than other continents .. be nice to get to somewhere like Fiji & New Zealand once borders open up .

So masks mandate on cruises and inflight is commendable and for the good of all - vaccinated or not .

Glad to have the luxury of being “ stuck “ where it is safe ( where complimentary vaccinations are available for all residents ) and where things work ..

sdsearch

Actually, on some airlines you can't any more:

More and more airlines are requiring surgical masks (TPG)

GUWonder

Back in July -- before that blog entry -- SAS was telling passengers on my SAS flights that -- for purposes of complying with their mask requirement -- cloth masks were prohibited.

radonc1

That may have been the case earlier this year, but it appears to be going backwards again.

My Sept. medical research meeting which was going to be a hybrid in person and virtual is now back to 100% virtual. It is an international meeting.

I have also noticed that my latest flights this week, which were 3/4's full when booked 3 weeks ago are now half full.

I think we have more to worry about than the quality of the masks we are required to wear