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EU opening up to Vaccinated US citizen!
- Thread starter Penn251
- Start date
Pauline
Forums Admin
Great details! Thanks!
What happens if you test positive back in Italy? Quarantine at home?
BryanS
100+ Posts
Standard protocol in Italy for any positive test is quarantine at home until you test negative. We know people who have been asymptomatic for several weeks yet still tested positive and had to stay in quarantine.
Pauline
Forums Admin
What if you are a visitor? Where do you quarantine? Maybe you are in a hotel for a couple of nights, then moving to another one?
Mom83
100+ Posts
Our 33 year old son contracted Covid in mid February. He was pretty sick for about 10-14 days, but fortunately came through it in good shape. He had to test weekly once he returned to work...he still tested positive for Covid for 6 weeks after he was no longer symptomatic and had returned to work...8 weeks from when he contracted it!
I had no idea that could happen.
I had no idea that could happen.
GailS
100+ Posts
The Italian Embassy web site in the U.S. says "Those vaccinated in the U.S.A. can prove this via the "white card" bearing a CDC logo;".
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Thought I'd pass this news item along -- something that was always on our to-do list, but never done since going to my wife's unheated house in February never seemed like such a good idea: "In 2021, Viareggio Carnival starts Saturday 18 September and ends Saturday 9 October. It represents a change from the usual, traditional period of February with some dates in January or March. This year the Carnival of Viareggio has a new name: it’s been called “Universal Carnival 2021”.
Alpinista
100+ Posts
Waiting for the surge of cases after the soccer celebrations (headline says the open bus tour of Rome by the team was "unauthorized" -- that's a bit late and a bit sad for a response). Still scheduled to leave for Italy in early September and still a long way from having any confidence we really will.
vicogirl51
10+ Posts
I’m getting worried too! Our positivity rate in our county today is up to 8.7%. In 2020 at the same time in the midst of Covid we were at 10%.
CaWino
100+ Posts
I saw that, too. As Andrew noted, California has a digital pass. As a California resident and vaccinated, I have access to to pass, but it has a state logo with no mention of the CDC. I'm not sure that will cut it.
As I US citizen, I don't expect the USA to touch Digital Vaccination Passports with a ten foot pole. The issue is a political hot potato. There were earlier reports that the EU was "In talks with USA" about US citizens having access to the EU Digital Green Passport, but that seems to have fizzled out. We don't have access to Digital Green Passports now, nor do I expect that will change in the near future. One can only hope.
I have cancelled my planned September trip to Sicily and Malta. There are too many everchanging nebulous rules for me to navigate and still enjoy what is support to be leisure time. I'm hopeful for more clarity and relaxed rules by Spring 2022. Unfortunately, the USA has issues getting some significant number of folks interested in getting protected with a free vaccine. Unless that changes, we can expect covid-19 to hang around and be an obstacle to travel for much longer.
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NoSpin
100+ Posts
I hope you are wrong on this, but you may be right. Digital is the way to go. Just yesterday on a local radio station a caller was bragging he bought a CDC vaccination card for $100. There have been news reports of people selling the cards. A digital database would make those bogus CDC cards worthless.
I think that is prudent. I wanted to go to Italy for Christmas, but I thought it would be too troublesome on many levels. e.g. testing, airline issues and restrictions within Italy.
The resistance to vaccines is just ridiculous. Unfortunately I guess part of herd immunity is thinning the herd of the unvaccinated weak and feeble.
CaWino
100+ Posts
NoSpin, I think that we are entirely on the same page. An interesting side note, Malta's restrictions concerning tourists from the USA were originally state specific with twelve states excluded from entry to Malta: Idaho, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and the remaining usual suspects.I hope you are wrong on this, but you may be right. Digital is the way to go. Just yesterday on a local radio station a caller was bragging he bought a CDC vaccination card for $100. There have been news reports of people selling the cards. A digital database would make those bogus CDC cards worthless.
I think that is prudent. I wanted to go to Italy for Christmas, but I thought it would be too troublesome on many levels. e.g. testing, airline issues and restrictions within Italy.
The resistance to vaccines is just ridiculous. Unfortunately I guess part of herd immunity is thinning the herd of the unvaccinated weak and feeble.
Interestingly, the restriction appears to be primarily related to vaccination rates. The rule has since changed as of July 19, 2021 so that proof of full vaccination is all that is needed, regardless of state of residence. However, according to the US Embassy - Malta web site, beginning August 1, the Government of Malta will require CDC vaccination cards to be digitally verified, but further details have yet to be released. I'm not holding my breath.
Oy vey! The multitude of changing rules is enough to make anyone's head spin, except for you, of course. After all, you are NoSpin -
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GailS
100+ Posts
A week ago I started to think that my hope to travel to Italy in September may not happen because of increasing delta variant cases both in the U.S. and in Italy. I booked a quick trip to Venice - for just over a week in case it may be my last chance for a while. I thought I'd share my experience getting here. First, I booked flights on KLM from Boston - both because the airport in Amsterdam is easy for transfers (no extra security check as in CDG transfers from the U.S.) and the connection time was only an hour and 10 minutes so less time travelling overall with a mask. Booked on Monday for a flight on Sunday. On Friday I got a notification from KLM that they had cancelled the AMS - VCE leg of the trip and they would work on rescheduling me. I tried their online portal to rebook myself (the next flight was 6 hours later) but the web site errored out trying this (and I tried off and on for about an hour). I then contacted them over their social media account which said all agents were busy and they would get back to me (good thing I didn't wait as it was the next day). I then tried other options than those given on the main link for rescheduling the one leg of the flight. Since they are not charging for other types of changes I looked at the day before and was able to change for the same flights on Saturday. Don't know if this type of cancellation is common in these times or not. The cancelled flight was only about a third full when I booked and selected seats on Monday. The flights I ended up on were not completely full but mostly.
As for the extra checks necessary to travel, the Delta agent (BOS-AMS was a code share) in Boston looked at our CDC cards and Passenger Locator Form when we checked our bags. No other checks for these for the remainder of the trip.
The KLM site had said to bring enough masks to change every 3 hours as they require. The Delta flight did not seem to have this requirement. I did see the flight attendants asking a few people to put masks on a bit after they collected trays after dinner.
I was expecting the experience to be a bit more unusual but other than wearing a mask for 14 hours, showing our CDC cards and locator form at check in, it was pretty much the same as pre-quarantine.
As for the extra checks necessary to travel, the Delta agent (BOS-AMS was a code share) in Boston looked at our CDC cards and Passenger Locator Form when we checked our bags. No other checks for these for the remainder of the trip.
The KLM site had said to bring enough masks to change every 3 hours as they require. The Delta flight did not seem to have this requirement. I did see the flight attendants asking a few people to put masks on a bit after they collected trays after dinner.
I was expecting the experience to be a bit more unusual but other than wearing a mask for 14 hours, showing our CDC cards and locator form at check in, it was pretty much the same as pre-quarantine.
GailS
100+ Posts
One other update in case it may help others. I had my pre-flight Covid rapid test done today. The Red Cross has free tests at the train station from 8AM - 2PM but the lines we were told were multiple hours long (even if you arrive before opening). Tests are also available at the airport and some pharmacies in town. Prices seem to vary. I heard from someone who had tests arranged by their hotel for over 100 euro for 2. I opted to get a test at the Sherman Institute. They have a location by the Rialto and by Piazzale Roma (I used Rialto). I stopped by on Friday afternoon and made an appointment for 8AM on Monday. It was 28 euro per test and was quick. I was notified of the results via email at 1:00 PM. I was also able to stop by the office and have them print me a copy of the results in case this ends up being easier at the airport than just having the .pdf on my phone.
Fingers crossed I'll be doing this all again in September.
Fingers crossed I'll be doing this all again in September.
Just got back to US from a lengthy stay in Umbria and found there were several small medical clinics in both Umbertide and Città di Castello offering same day rapid antigen testing, with quick results emailed and printed in both Italian and English for 30 - 35 Euro. One factor you may want to keep in mind re: timing - some clinics have a doctor on site all day and results can be signed off in 20”, while others have a doc coming by at the end of the day and so, while you will get your results by verbal report from these clinics just as quickly, you will not get the official email report needed to show at the airport until around 6:00pm (same day).
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