What Is It?
On Wednesday 11 March 2020 President Trump Ordered a 30-Day Travel Ban Suspending Entry as Immigrants and Nonimmigrants to the United States from the following countries to mitigate human to human transmission of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (Covid19):
Countries affected by the travel ban:
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
The exceptions are:
Great Britain (England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland), Croatia, Cyprus, Ireland, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Please note; travel from Mainland China (this excludes the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau) and Iran were banned for travel to the US prior to this 11 March 2020 ban. That ban still stands.
What Does this Mean?
In a nutshell all people traveling from those countries who are Not US citizens will not be allowed to enter the country. US citizens, their spouses, parents, children and siblings, US Military, their spouses, and their children are exempt from this ban. Permanent Residents and their same dependents are also exempt. That means Americans, you can enter the United States.
When Does This Go into Effect?
The ban goes into effect Friday, March 13, 2020 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. If your flight leaves Before that time this ban does not apply to you.
What Effect Does This Have on my Flights?
Several things.
First, you may have to be re-booked or rerouted to one of the 11 approved arrival airports in the United States. The list of approved airports is below. If you are not scheduled to arrive at one of those Contact Your Airline! Phone lines are incredibly busy, use your airline’s app or go online to (hopefully) mitigate some of the wait time.
Approved airports are:
Atlanta ATL, Dallas Fort-Worth DFW, Detroit DTW, Newark EWR, Honolulu HNL, New York JFK, Los Angeles LAX, Chicago O’Hare ORD, Seattle SEA, San Francisco SFO, Washington Dulles IAD.
Second, there will be additional screening upon departure. Please get to the airport EARLY! Airlines are saying 3 hours early. Our friends in Europe are telling us the airports are very full. Be prudent, it won’t hurt to be several hours early. There may be a lot to sort out. (We are pulling for you, and praying for your sanity.)
Third, there will be additional screening upon arrival in the United States. You will be asked to do a 14-Day self-quarantine after you are allowed through Border Control. That means Stay Home for 14 days! Just think of all the cleaning and housework you can get done in 14 days. (Find a bright side my friends!)
We will have videos pertaining to this and other aspects of affected travel on youtube.com/woltersworld.
Make informed, educated decisions about your travel.
PLEASE read outbreak information at cdc.gov
PLEASE read travel information from the US Department of State at travel.state.gov
Please be safe during this time whether you are staying home or you must travel.
Presidential Proclamation on the European Travel Ban
Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chat F. Wolf’s Statement
Information on The Coronavirus from the CDC:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/
CDC page on Quarantines:
https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/index.html
These are the airlines reservation numbers in the US.
Delta Airlines: +1-800-221-1212 Visit http://www.delta.com
United Airlines: +1-800-864-8331 Visit http://www.united.com
American Airlines: +1-800-433-7300 (US Reservations) http://www.aa.com
Travel well friends,
Jocelyn and Mark
