Italy is Open

Italy has dropped all of its COVID entry requirements joining Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland,  Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom among many others. The US in contrast still has a vaccination requirement for non-citizens and a costly, annoying and near useless test requirement for everyone.

Planes are not especially dangerous for COVID transmission–people are in close quarters but the filtration systems are excellent. That does not mean the risks are zero but rather that there are no strong reasons to treat planes differently than buses, subways, taxis, bars, churches, mosques and concert halls and there is certainly no strong reason to treat foreign flights differently than domestic flights. By all means, wear a mask if you wish to reduce your risk.  But let’s not pretend that testing international travelers is protecting America’s borders.

The test requirement should be dropped forthwith.