This is what travel looks like as COVID-19 goes into an endemic phase

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This is what travel looks like as COVID-19 goes into an endemic phase

Jordi Lippe-McGraw
2h ago


As we enter the third season of the pandemic, it feels like we have more questions than answers. That’s especially true for travelers.

There was hope that the vaccine rollout would mean worry-free jet-setting and reopened international borders, but the omicron variant disrupted those plans, with cases hitting record highs. Now that COVID-19 case numbers are falling again, there’s a positive outlook on the future.

In fact, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former Food and Drug Administration commissioner and a member of the Healthy Sail Panel, told travel agents during a conference call at the invitation of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings that COVID-19 is quickly approaching “an endemic phase where this becomes a persistent issue, but an issue that fades into the background of our daily lives.”

Experts agree that COVID-19 will forever be part of our ecosystem, although the public health crisis will wane. Again, this leaves us with new, unanswered questions.

“I believe that as [COVID-19] becomes endemic, travel will return to something that feels more normal, but not all the way,” Dr. Brad Bowman, chief medical officer at Healthgrades (which is owned by TPG’s parent company, Red Ventures) told TPG. ............(more)

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/travel-covid19-endemic-phase/