How risky is traveling now? It could be a lot safer than you think.

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COVID-19 cases fall. More and more people are being vaccinated. How risky is traveling now?

Experts say it is still too dangerous in general. And the government agrees. The Centers for Disease Control have found that the number of COVID-19 cases is still “extremely” high his current travel warning.

But that can change sooner than you think. If enough Americans get a vaccine and cases keep dropping, there’s a slim chance we can save the spring break. There is a chance that the summer trip will resume and there is a good chance that things will look almost normal over the Christmas holidays.

“I’m excited to go traveling again,” says Walter G. Meyer, author of the book. If you weren’t here this wouldn’t happen. “But not at the risk of my life or – or the risk of making other people sick.”

He’s in good company. Many Americans can’t wait to hit the streets again. But they don’t know how to tell if traveling is risky. It turns out that there are resources out there that can help you understand the general security risks and potential COVID-19 issues in your destination. Note that the risks vary based on age, health, destination and planned activities. What is safe for you may not be safe for others.

People can’t wait to travel again

More and more American travelers say they are willing to take the risk of travel again, given the right conditions. This is the result of a new survey carried out by the Predictive Intelligence platform PredictHQ. It found:

  • More than half of respondents feel unsafe about getting on a plane or would not get on a plane under any circumstances today.
  • Over a third of travelers said they would feel safe if they were vaccinated against COVID.
  • More than half of the respondents would like to go to a face-to-face event with 100 or more attendees – once we have herd immunity.

PredictHQ’s study suggests that getting a vaccine and showing that you’ve been vaccinated are gold standards for resuming travel.

People can’t wait.

“We see significant pent-up demand for international travel,” says Karisa Cernera, manager for travel services at Red dot resolutions, travel insurance. “As countries open travel to tourists and business trips, people book trips.”

How accumulated is the travel requirement? Almost 60 percent of travelers said they had canceled up to four trips in the past year A recent survey from IHG Hotels & Resorts. More than half of the travelers surveyed stated that they had rebooked canceled trips or were planning a rebooking. Family vacations and visits to relatives are high on their travel wish lists for 2021.

“We’ve all had plenty of time to think about what travel means to us, which trips are most important and how we’d like to reconnect with loved ones,” added Claire Bennett, IHG Hotels & Resorts chief customer officer.

How do you know the risks?

Travel experts say research is more important now than ever.

“The pandemic has taught us the importance of being prepared for the unexpected and planning for it,” says Lori Calavan, a senior medical advisor at Alliance partner.

Experts recommend checking out the following resources:

Official websites of the tourism authority. These used to be for promotional purposes only, now they publish current test and quarantine requirements.

Third party websites that monitor health and safety. For example the Safe travel barometer Prices airlines, hotels and other travel-related entities.

Your travel advisor. The agents have tools available to help them determine the risk. For example travel insurance Arch RoamRight recently partnered with WorldAware to provide travel consultants with access to current, country-specific information on the requirements and conditions of COVID-19.

Official government sites. Check the Foreign Ministry and Centers for Disease Control Websites. But get a second opinion by taking the advice of Canadian Government, the British government, and the Australian government Websites.

More than 80 countries have started adopting COVID-19 vaccinations. “However, there remains an uneven distribution of doses around the world,” notes Zulfah Albertyn-Blanchard, Health Intelligence Analyst at Crisis24. If you live in a country with a high COVID-19 rate or report an increase in active COVID-19 cases, the risks may be too high to travel.

Tools to identify COVID travel risk

If you are curious about an area’s COVID status, here are some resources:

Laura Scott running a site for digital nomads, used these pages to determine if she should travel during the winter vacation (she didn’t). “They also helped us feel comfortable on a trip to Hawaii that required negative COVID tests and very low infection rates,” she adds.

It depends on you

The travel risk also depends on you. Christina Tunnah, America’s Managing Director at Travel Insurance World nomads, Says some travelers will want to consider going somewhere for the time being.

“If you already have a disease, are immunocompromised, or are of a certain age and haven’t been vaccinated, you’re more likely to get infections,” she says. “You should carefully weigh the benefits of travel versus the risks.”

Just because vaccines are available and being distributed doesn’t mean the virus won’t spread. She recommends taking the same precaution now that the pandemic started: wearing masks, social distancing, hand washing.

“These are all measures that should now be routine, but not practiced consistently,” she adds.

You can’t see every travel risk

A trip that seems safe can harbor hidden risks, say security experts.

For example, you can possibly get to your goal. But what if you get sick while traveling?

“You cannot return on your return flight without a negative COVID test,” explains Ben Carothers, flight coordinator at Global Air Ambulance. “You will have to pay for cancellation, medical care and living costs for the duration of your illness. These costs can be reduced by taking out travel insurance, but not all policies cover this situation.”

Experts: Now is not the time to travel unless …

“Now is not a good time to travel,” says Pamela Frable, associate professor of nursing at Texas Christian Universitythat focuses on public health. “Travel increases the risk of spreading an infection or getting infected. Even if you’re fully vaccinated, the science is unclear whether you can transmit COVID through asymptomatic infection.”

However, the competent advice doesn’t apply to all trips – or all travelers.

“It depends on how you travel and where you stay, eat and relax while you’re traveling,” says Karen Jubanyik, a Yale Medicine Emergency Medicine Doctor and co-author of “Beat the Coronavirus: Strategies for Safety and Dealing with the New Normal During COVID-19”.

For example, she has friends who have driven more than a thousand miles to see a relative die of a non-COVID-related illness.

“These were situations where you hadn’t seen the person in almost a year, but now the person is dying and this is your last opportunity to spend time with your loved one,” she says. “This situation seems to be relatively safe and the risk-benefit ratio seems to be in favor of such trips, especially if you travel by private car, limit stops and live in a private household.”

But when it comes to getting your family to a theme park or a beach vacation, “it just has to wait,” she adds.

Things will go back to normal – at some point

Travelers are almost out of the woods. By following public health guidelines and getting vaccinated, we are getting closer to the “all clear” on this day, medical professionals say.

“We’re all missing out on the opportunity to travel with family and friends,” said Chris Colbert, assistant program director of the emergency medicine residency program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. “However, it is important that each of us understand the potential effects of travel. If we as a community adhere to medical recommendations for both travel and personal safety concerns, we will soon reach a place where open travel is not possible.” Be part of the discussion, but again one of the relaxation. “