Weighing the Risks of Holiday Travel During Omicron: What the Experts Say
With the highly transmissible variant surging around the world, we asked a group of U.S. infectious-disease specialists for their advice.
The departures hall at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. Concerns about the omicron variant are shutting down travel lanes that had started to open in recent weeks, threatening holiday travel around the world.
Photographer: Peter Boer/BloombergWith Covid cases on the rise in many parts of the world and the new omicron variant spreading quickly, holiday travel suddenly seems a lot more complicated than it did a few months ago.
The good news is that early data suggest vaccines still provide good protection. While initial evidence indicates that omicron may be more contagious and better adept at evading vaccines, it so far appears unlikely to cause severe disease among people who are vaccinated. The less-good news is that there’s little real-world data about the highly mutated variant. That not only makes the true risks of omicron hard to assess, but it has also has made international holiday travel more difficult: Many nations have implemented new travel restrictions to contain the strain, creating a confusing patchwork of rules and regulations.
So with Christmas one week away, what does all this mean for people traveling to see family and loved ones? We turned to four experts in the field to get their take and find out how they’re handling this year’s holiday season.