I want to give you positive travel news, but it is getting harder to paint Pandemic Year 2 in a much cheerier light than Pandemic Year 1. Until most of us are vaccinated, travel remains quite risky. I know you don’t want to hear this. We yearn for fresh sights and new faces and places. I get it. So here is my two-cent risk assessment.
Cruises. Yes, some lines are planning to restart routes in May. All passengers must show proof of vaccination, those little cardboard cards, which honestly seem extremely easy to forge. I understand the imperative for cruise lines to set sail once again, but still…let’s say 95% of vaccinated passengers are indeed protected from Covid-19 on a 3,500-passenger ship. That means a sailing still could have that other 5% (175 people) come down with mild cases circulating aboard. Risk assessment: Pass on cruises that sail in spring or summer 2021 until we know more. Pitfalls abound.
Flying. As of May 1, airlines are throwing caution to the wind, and even Delta, the most cautious airline, will be packing their middle seats and returning to full loads. Again, it is totally understandable. You can’t limp along forever. Business must recover. Still, flying may become riskier in the next three months than it is now. Risk assessment: If you have been vaccinated and must fly, go ahead.
Train. Speaking of limping along, Amtrak last year slashed the number of trains on routes, and that is still the case. For instance, in May, Amtrak lists only one train per day from Detroit to Chicago on the Wolverine line. That is down from three in pre-Covid days. Risk assessment: Vaccinated people should be fine, because the cars are so old that fresh air does circulate. Plus Amtrak is still blocking many seats.
Driving. In the past year, this has been the only travel that seems safe to most people, so look for more and more travelers hitting the road. I drove from Michigan to Tampa in January. It felt safe. Risk assessment: Fine, especially for vaccinated people. The hardest part of a road trip is finding a safe place to eat on your journey. It may be another summer of camping and campers and bring-your-own food.