Better Sorry Than Safe

From the DW:

“EU agency says COVID checks on China travelers 'unjustified'”

Italy has called for EU rules on arrivals from China, where COVID-19 restrictions were scrapped despite a surge in cases. But EU health officials say the situation in China is not likely to affect the bloc. The European Union's health agency on Thursday said new blocwide measures in response to China's decision to lift its COVID-19 travel ban were not necessary.  Despite an unprecedented surge in coronavirus infections, China is easing its curbs on travel to and from the country following protests against its strict zero-COVID policy. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said it considered "screenings and travel measures on travelers from China unjustified." The agency said in a statement that the BF7 omicron variant prevalent in China was already circulating in the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA), and that its threat had not significantly grown. "Given higher population immunity in the EU/EEA, as well as the prior emergence and subsequent replacement of variants currently circulating in China by other Omicron sub-lineages in the EU/EEA, a surge in cases in China is not expected to impact the COVID-19 epidemiological situation in the EU/EEA," the ECDC the said

Which countries will require COVID tests from travelers from China? India, Japan, Taiwan, Italy and the US are among the countries introducing mandatory COVID-19 tests on all travelers from China.  Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she "expects and hopes" for Rome's measures to be implemented on an EU level. "Italy cannot be the only country to carry out anti-COVID checks at airports for those arriving from China," said Matteo Salvini, Italy's deputy prime minister and transport minister. "I have asked that checks and possible limitations be applied throughout Europe."

How have other countries reacted to China's move? While French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked authorities to take "appropriate measures" to protect citizens, French health officials said they saw "no reason" to reintroduce measures on travelers.  "From a scientific point of view, there is no reason at this stage to bring back controls at the borders," Brigitte Autran, head of the French health risk assessment committee COVARS, said on French Radio Classique on Thursday. Germany also said it saw no need to bring back travel restrictions. Austria noted that the return of Chinese tourists to Europe comes with economic benefits.

What travel rules is China easing?  Following two years of some of the world's strictest COVID policies, China began relaxing its lockdowns and extensive testing and announced that it would no longer release an official daily COVID death toll.  The country is scrapping its quarantine requirement for travelers from abroad on January 8. Until now, passengers arriving from abroad, including Chinese nationals, have had to quarantine for five days at a hotel, followed by three days at home. The move is widely expected to revive international tourism, as Chinese tourists had long made up a large proportion of the world's tourist population before the pandemic.

^ The EU, the US and the whole World downplayed the threat of what was going on inside China in 2019 and early 2020. Then we all saw and felt the real threat that we had brushed-off and which has killed over 1 Million Americans and over 6 Million People Worldwide in just over 2 years.

The Chinese Communist Government was not forthcoming with the World back in 2020 and it’s not being forthcoming with the World in 2022. The only reason they are stopping their “Zero Covid Policy” is because Ordinary Chinese Citizens are starting to protest and call for the Commies to be pushed out of power.

In January 2023 China will reopen its Borders to the World and an untold number of inflected people (believed to be in the Thousands if not the Millions) will easily travel to every corner of the World and infect everyone like they did back in 2020.

I’m not personally worried (since I am Fully-Vaccinated with 2 Shots, a Booster and the Updated Booster) but many others aren’t. The Hospitals in the US, Canada, the UK and many other Countries are already strained to the max with Covid, the Flu and RSV. Add to all of that a new Covid Strain coming from Thousands  - or again Millions - of People from China and we will be back to the dark days of the Pandemic where people were dying outside and we needed Refrigerated Morgue Vans.

Testing people coming from a Country is the smart thing to do – especially testing everyone coming from there (both Citizens and Foreigners.) It is better (and smarter) to require a simple test and not let the inflected to travel than to make broad and dumb statements about how safe we are and how things in China aren’t going to affect us here since we have seen, in just the past 2 years, how people who said that back in 2019 and in 2020 were completely wrong – deadly wrong. It seems many people would rather be sorry than safe when they should be safe and not sorry.  ^

https://www.dw.com/en/eu-agency-says-covid-checks-on-china-travelers-unjustified/a-64235864