[Bill Gayne]

I would think the technology would be able to link vaccination to services such as CLEAR, TSA Precheck, or Global Entry. 

[Brian_Ewen]

I would think the technology would be able to link vaccination to services such as CLEAR, TSA Precheck, or Global Entry.

So, only certain age groups will be allowed to travel?


Honestly, how do you think that would play out?

[Bill Gayne]

I would think the technology would be able to link vaccination to services such as CLEAR, TSA Precheck, or Global Entry.

So, only certain age groups will be allowed to travel?


Honestly, how do you think that would play out?

I didn't know only adults could register for these services. Of course children should be able to travel.

[Bill Gayne]

I would think the technology would be able to link vaccination to services such as CLEAR, TSA Precheck, or Global Entry.

So, only certain age groups will be allowed to travel?


Honestly, how do you think that would play out?

I didn't know only adults could register for these services. Of course children should be able to travel.

I just googled all three services and they all allow for minors. What age groups are you referring to?

[Charles Lund]

"I would think the technology would be able to link vaccination to services such as CLEAR, TSA Precheck, or Global Entry."

I have had Global Entry and TSA precheck for about 8 years and Nexus for six years. Global Entry expedites reentry into the U.S. via expedited kiosks and Nexus does something similar for entry into Canada.  Global Entry does not help with expedited entry into other countries.  If they were to add vaccination data to their systems, the question would be whether  a sufficient number of countries would recognize the data base in allowing entry or issuing electronic travel authorizations or visas which include vaccination criteria.


The way the ETA works for entry into Australia is that Austalia registers a passport holder for entry into Australia for one year.  When your passport is scanned at an airport for a flight into Australia, the system reviews ETA and if the passenger has the required ETA, boarding the flight is permitted.  I have flown into Australia from the U.S., New Zealand, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.  The entry is tied to passport ID and an ETA number.


So I think there would need to be a system for linking vaccination data to a passport or a separate universally accepted vaccination passport which includes the same data as a passport and perhaps biometric identifer like a passport, Global Entry, or Nexus includes.


Charles Lund

[Brian_Ewen]

I just googled all three services and they all allow for minors. What age groups are you referring to?

The age groups that will not receive a vaccine.

[Bill Gayne]

I just googled all three services and they all allow for minors. What age groups are you referring to?

The age groups that will not receive a vaccine.

Yes, if someone or a group isn't vaccinated (or rapid tested) it will limit their ability to travel until there's herd immunity. Even for the vaccinated there is added risk without herd immunity.

[Brian_Ewen]

Yes, if someone or a group isn't vaccinated (or rapid tested) it will limit their ability to travel until there's herd immunity. Even for the vaccinated there is added risk without herd immunity.

Hence, why there will not be Vaccine Passports or similar any time soon.

[Jerry Kluger]

I have misspoken on this subject before so I will ask questions rather than make a statement.  Is it not true that clinical trials of at least some of the vaccines has shown that those who were vaccinated and some time thereafter were diagnosed with Covid 19 that none required hospitalization and none died from Covid 19? Do we know if someone who has been vaccinated and more than 2 weeks has passed since their second shot can spread the virus? 

[Simon Holt]

Jerry

There are respected articles here in the UK that suggest Oxford-AZ does reduce transmission.  Other than that, I got nothing for you!


This OT thread has always been based on hunches; so if I regurgitate some of the facts from today, you can at least have better info than seems to be reported about us in the US.


Scotland has given at least one shot to 99.6% of elderly care home residents and over 90% of all over 80s. They expect to complete everyone who wants a vaccine over 70 years old by the end of next week.  They have also vaccinated all frontline healthcare workers and the majority of care home workers.  Test positivity rates are now around 5-6% daily, so not far off what the WHO deems "under control" at 5%.  Patient numbers are dropping steadily, and deaths have flattened out.


My parents are in their 60s and have their first injection on Feb 15.  The uptake has been incredible and fair play to both UK and Scottish governments for exceeding rollout targets so far.  Even the opposition parties are giving reluctant praise.


Respectfully, while I'm sure we can all appreciate there are more important things going on in the world, none of that answers the question we all need to know for golf trips; what does it all mean for entry restrictions?


Golf has been open in Scotland all of this most recent lockdown, albeit in 2-balls within your council boundary. 
We can only leave our houses for essential reasons (eg. work if impossible from home) and exercise.
No travel outside your council boundary (exercise a slight exception within 5 miles of boundary, but not to be seen as loophole)
Lockdown goes until at least the end of Feb with a review on Feb 16th, I believe. 
Our youngest school kids (pre-school to 7/8 year olds) go back on Feb 22.
When lockdown eases off we'll go back to a tiered system based on among other variables, cases per 100K in your council area.


Governments here are giving very little in terms of a timescale when international travel will open up for the UK.  Unfortunately none of the noises are good, in Scotland at least.


When this thread started I believed golf, hotels and restaurants would be open for the season (mid-April usually when we see tourists in numbers) and I still think that will be the case but with restrictions.  We would've got there much sooner if not for the huge spike just before Christmas.  Unfortunately for Scottish residents wanting to head overseas and international visitors wanting to come here, all hints from the government are that our borders wont be opening "for some time".


My advice to anyone who has booked rounds of golf or accommodation, especially at smaller hotels, is take credit notes if you can afford to.  It is starting to look bleak for this year and some famous course names may well be running on fumes come the summer.  I'd say anyone from overseas who hasn't rescheduled an April or May trip should look at doing so soon, but that's purely my opinion....and I'll be the happiest person on the DG to be wrong! 


For the rest of the summer? Keep your fingers crossed but it all hangs on a robust and safe solution for air travel that doesn't require much, if any quarantine.

[David_Tepper]

Simon -

Thanks for your comments and perspective. Very helpful.

DT

[MKrohn]

Thanks Simon.


With virtually no community transmission and vaccine roll outs about to start in Australia, the only way things stuff up is when you bring the virus in. The govt has even reduced the number of citizens who can return.


Post vaccine, I still can't see much community support for any sort of "tourist" border opening here, apart from perhaps a couple of places like NZ.


Wonder if Scotland may be similar, if things get under control (as they appear to be), nobody will want to go back to the lockdown days, hence unless you are a returning resident, you aint welcome. Perhaps you might be manning a post on Hadrians Wall.

[Brian_Ewen]

Wonder if Scotland may be similar, if things get under control (as they appear to be), nobody will want to go back to the lockdown days, hence unless you are a returning resident, you aint welcome. Perhaps you might be manning a post on Hadrians Wall.

Are you unaware that we are in lockdown and until at least the end of Feb. ?

[Thomas Dai]

I do wonder if the locals in visitor areas irrespective of whether we’re talking golf or any other activity actually want visitors during a pandemic?
Atb

[Tim Martin]

I do wonder if the locals in visitor areas irrespective of whether we’re talking golf or any other activity actually want visitors during a pandemic?
Atb

Thomas-I doubt locals with the possible exception of some business owners actually want visitors during a pandemic.

[MKrohn]

Wonder if Scotland may be similar, if things get under control (as they appear to be), nobody will want to go back to the lockdown days, hence unless you are a returning resident, you aint welcome. Perhaps you might be manning a post on Hadrians Wall.

Are you unaware that we are in lockdown and until at least the end of Feb. ?

I knew you were locked down, don't know when you come out. My comments were some way of thinking about what may happen down the track given we have had some experience with 3month plus lockdowns.

[Thomas Dai]

I do wonder if the locals in visitor areas irrespective of whether we’re talking golf or any other activity actually want visitors during a pandemic?
Atb

Thomas-I doubt locals with the possible exception of some business owners actually want visitors during a pandemic.

I don't doubt this for a minute. Others may wish to give it consideration though.
atb

[Simon Holt]

Thomas,


I have little doubt you are correct but the 10% of Scotland's entire workforce that directly depend on tourism may argue there is a balance.  Fishing was one of the political footballs of the Brexit negotiations for example, but in reality it's a drop in the ocean (sorry...) compared to tourism in Scotland/UK.


Staying very OT here but it will be interesting to see how countries that have successfully protected their citizens ease out of this.  Borders simply cannot stay shut forever.


To underline, I would absolutely prefer to be in Australia or NZ's position than the UK's; however, in the most tragic sense we have had to learn to deal with loss of life and mass hospitalisations.  When countries like Australia and NZ open up, they will have to come to terms with that too - albeit to their credit on a much lower level, thankfully.  In the longterm though, it's just doesn't seem feasible to shut down whole states for 1 or 2 cases in perpetuity.


No vaccine program will have 100% uptake and neither will it be 100% effective for those who get the jab.  Society across the world will have to come to a realisation that there will be a number of deaths and hospitalisations a year that is somehow acceptable, as awful as that sounds, for life to return to somewhat pre-COVID 19 conditions.  In that sense, for the most tragic of reasons, it may well be easier for most countries in Europe or the US to accept that, rather than countries that so far have done an incredible job at keeping out the virus.


Purely the thoughts of someone with too much time of their hands in lockdown!  And again, someone who absolutely knows this virus is real and does not think the levels of deaths in the UK have been anything but the greatest tragedy of our lifetime.

[Brian_Ewen]

Because of the weather, I have been doing a lot more walking these recent weeks, if only to just get out of the house.


Most days, I walk out to Dunnottar Castle, which is quite a major Scottish tourist attraction, and I am amazed how many tourists I meet.


And I am not talking about local tourists either.


Against the rules, and I am not sure how they are doing it to be honest, but there most definitely is Foreign Tourists in Scotland at present.

[Tony_Muldoon]

Received this morning. 
I bought my Tickets back in 2019 and have let my accommodation options pass.   Hope to be Marshalling, but no (minimal?) planning is currently taking place with local clubs.





Latest Information on The 149th Open

Dear Ticket Purchaser,

We are progressing with our plans to stage The 149th Open at Royal St George’s from 11-18 July. We very much hope to be able to have fans attend the Championship but we fully recognise that the pandemic may continue to impact the staging of sporting events in the UK this summer.

The safety of everyone attending The Open continues to be our foremost priority and so we are developing contingency plans based on three scenarios: full attendance, reduced capacity and behind closed doors. Each option will be dependent on the UK Government guidelines and public health measures in place at the time. We are monitoring the situation with the pandemic carefully and liaising with the UK Government, health authorities and our advisors to develop our plans and ensure that The Open is staged safely. We will keep everyone informed of our plans.

These are difficult and uncertain times and so we recognise that clarity for our loyal customers is important. We can confirm that if The 149th Open at Royal St George’s is cancelled, played behind closed doors or if we are unable to honour your booking due to a reduced capacity scenario, all tickets purchased directly via TheOpen.com or through the Ticketing team will be entitled to a full refund. In the event of these outcomes, we will communicate with our customers as soon as information and processes are in place.

At this time, we are unable to consider individual requests for a refund. We will update customers as soon as we have more clarity on the staging of the Championship.

Please note that The Open’s Ticketing Team are currently working from home so all enquiries should be directed to Tickets@TheOpen.com. If you do need to speak to someone over the phone, please leave your telephone number (along with your international dialling code) and a member of the team will contact you in due course.

We thank all fans of The Open for their continued support.

Kind regards,

The R&A Ticket Office

   

[Jeff Schley]

Because of the weather, I have been doing a lot more walking these recent weeks, if only to just get out of the house.


Most days, I walk out to Dunnottar Castle, which is quite a major Scottish tourist attraction, and I am amazed how many tourists I meet.


And I am not talking about local tourists either.


Against the rules, and I am not sure how they are doing it to be honest, but there most definitely is Foreign Tourists in Scotland at present.

Brian, I'm wondering how is that possible myself?  Perhaps stuck there for lack of flights or? I'm scheduled the end of May, but looks less than 50% certainly right now.

[Charles Lund]

I've traveled extensively since late 2007, including Ireland, UK, Western Europe, Scandinavian countries, Australia, New Zealand, and several countries in Asia. I have followed what has happened in some of these countries with efforts to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.   I plan to travel overseas again at the first opportunity, subject to a couple of conditions:


1.  Two week quarantine is not required on arrival.
2.  Two week quarantine in the U.S. is not required on return.


I read something that Canada is going to require Canadians returning to complete two week mandatory hotel quarantine on return to Canada.  Canada has barred entry for U.S.passport holders for nearly a year now.


I suspect that Ireland, Scotland, and the rest of the UK will open up to allow entry for U.S. passport holders before Australia does.  I have a couple of ideas for trips I would like to do once it is possible.


I am getting my second vaccination next week here in the U.S.  I am looking at options for domestic golf travel this year.  2022 looks like a realistic year for overseas travel for me.


Charles Lund

[Brian_Ewen]

I am getting my second vaccination next week here in the U.S. 

And do you get one of these (controversial) Vaccine Passports?

[Daryl David]

I am getting my second vaccination next week here in the U.S. 

And do you get one of these (controversial) Vaccine Passports?

What is controversial?  Many countries will be requiring uploaded proof of vaccination as well as testing results in some digital format to cross their borders. Several platforms are being tested right now by either airlines or countries.  I see Denmark is launching theirs. Hopefully there will be some consolidation in platforms so you don’t have to use several different ones depending on where you are going.


https://apnews.com/article/travel-health-denmark-coronavirus-pandemic-europe-8ffacf05453c6f259d5e2cea033ae5ca

[Bill Gayne]

Iceland is now allowing entry without quarantine for those showing proof of vaccination.


https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/iceland-covid-passports-canada-1.5904828

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