But ECDC is now making a comeback. An ECDC report published last week announced that popular ECDC tickets will now rely on vaccination coverage rather than infection. A little late but still. But more important to us is the conclusion that travel restrictions have not had a significant impact on reducing the spread of the virus, hospitalizations and deaths.
A real game changer for me. I don’t want to say “I told you so”, but a simple look at Australia and New Zealand, where the lockdown had to be maintained for months in a military emergency while both countries shut themselves down completely, shows that the virus cannot be caught after all. Once again a very late idea, because this policy has caused billions of dollars in damage to the travel and aviation sector worldwide.
We won’t reverse that, but I can still agree internationally that we won’t do this again in future pandemics. I hope the new Minister of Health, Welfare and Sports in the new government will read this report as well, or else we will make sure it gets to the right office. We hope that it will also lead to the next government being less biased about the role of travel in spreading the virus. Because we clearly experienced it in Bhuna. We had a few advocates in the cabinet about the necessity and importance of travel and commuting. It must be different. Nice job for the coming months.
Frank Osdam
ANVR head
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