France bans UK travellers

[XmasSadface]

Could we maybe stop doing so much testing in the UK so we stop reporting these case rises which makes us look worse than countries that dont test?

PS: I totally get the point of vaccination and am triple jabbed. But what's the point of the vaccine PASSES if having one makes zero difference? Now I'm triple jabbed I'm considering not getting any more boosters as you still have to mess around testing like an unvaccinated person

@TurquoiseDress

But surely they will allow those Brits who have a home over there? And French nationals who are going to visit family?

What's the difference, say, if they all normally live in London...just because you have a French passport, it won't make you immune to Omicron

Or do they need more of a compelling reason apart from "visiting family for Christmas"?

I do wonder if other countries will follow them eg Italy, Spain

It seems to be:

French nationals and their families are allowed.
UK citizens who are family of French residents (who themselves could be Brits) are allowed, not quite clear what the rules define by family….

Brits who have a holiday home in France but who are not actually resident might find things more problematic.

www.interieur.gouv.fr/content/download/130184/1036619/file/1612-motifs-imperieux-uk.pdf

They need a more compelling reason.

And quite frankly I think before complaining about other countries, people should look at what the UK does.

I couldn't travel in October because the UK didn't accept my French vaccination status (covid plus 1 vaccination). To be able to come at Christmas I had to skirt around the rules here and get the needed vaccinations. My DC could travel though.

Same as last summer. At one point only NHS vaccinations were being accepted. I would have been treated (isolation, tests etc) as if I hadn't been vaccinated. Sonmy parents had to come to France (France accepted NHS vaccinations)

In the UK you originally required 2 doses to be considered "fully vaccinated" regardless as to whether you'd previously had Covid or not

Not sure why France did the whole thing where people were told they only needed 1 jab if they'd had Covid recently

My British friend who lives in France tried in vain to get a second dose but was refused because he'd already had Covid

I told him to get it done so he'd be considered fully vaxxed but they made it really difficult

He did it in the end but really had to get pushy...I suppose it's helped with him settling into living over in France, having to fight over getting every little thing done!

The French have been absolute cocks to us since Brexit, and I say that as someone with a lot of French family, who, by the way, hate Macron and are embarrassed by how he’s behaving towards us.

It’ll all come out in the wash, we are not going to end up looking the worst in Europe by any means. People in glass houses…

Family is husband/wife and children. Nothing further afield. Second home owners won’t be allowed in, it has to be your primary residence. And post Brexit you need a visa to prove that.

@XmasSadface

Macron should focus on getting his vaccine uptake rate up as its lower than the official figures, one of my sisters neighbours has bought a vaccine pass, apparently this is a thing now (it costs shit loads though and presumably you have to buy a new one every 6 months)

This is just not true. You can't buy a vaccine pass. At least not legally.

Fucking Macron. Can’t not to see that idiot going. This is political make not mistake. His goal is to sabotage the U.K.

I had enough of this shit. Fuck the politicians playing games. Covid is being vastly exaggerated in the U.K.

If like in Spain you needed to pay for lateral flow test. I bet nobody would do it here so not cases would be reported.

@Randominternetbitch

Not surprised, soon most of the world will close their doors to us and with good reason. We seem very keen to tell the world that we are covid infested plague pit! British exceptionalism at it's very finest, even the omicron variant must be different here and clearly doomed to kill all of us by Christmas day.

Completely disagree in that shutting doors the the UK (the feckin scapegoat) will make sod all difference. It's laughable France doing this

@fournonblondes

Fucking Macron. Can’t not to see that idiot going. This is political make not mistake. His goal is to sabotage the U.K.

I had enough of this shit. Fuck the politicians playing games. Covid is being vastly exaggerated in the U.K.

Amen

France consider covid + 1 vaccination to be fully vaxxed due to tests they've done showing it gives you better antibodies than 2 vaccinations and no covid.

It also meant they could vaccinate more people, quicker.

I think arguments about which country has done "better" during the pandemic is pointless - too many variables.

But complaining that France is "banning" UK visitors when the UK have had very restrictive rules for months is hypocritical.

Is it laughable that France accepted NHS vaccinations last summer but the UK didn't accept French vaccinations??? (Even double vaxxed)

France already has lots of Omicron, but that doesn't mean it wants more.

This is what being a third country is: the EU have a tacit agreement not to shut internal borders as far as possible. The UK is no longer in the EU, so is excluded. The measure applies to all non-EU countries, but is being reported as affecting the UK because that's where a huge number of people will have been travelling to/from. As compared to Denmark, for instance, mentioned upthread.

Of course it's also political - BJ's tweeting his letter to Macron demanding that France take back all migrants in the Channel last month was a huge, deliberate public insult, especially coming on the heels of Aukus. France isn't going to wear kid gloves when dealing with the UK now. What goes around, comes around...

And I say that as someone who doesn't like Macron and whose Christmas plans have been trashed by this and whose parents haven't seen their grandkids since 2019.

A self-replicating virus that is already rife in France won't need the contribution of Brits to spread it further - domestic Christmas travel within France will do that all by itself.

Politically motivated tit for tat punishes families - including a multitude of French ones. This is an incredibly short-sighted move by Macron.

@AuldAlliance
Well duh of course it's illegal 😳

@XmasSadface

Of course its political. Politicians everywhere are dicking around with our lives to keep electorates happy.

Yes, election in April, and he’s under pressure. I imagine closing the border to pesky Brits will sell well.

Whilst I agree the new measures will probably have little effect the number of people who think that the motive behind pretty much every single political decision made in France is designed to spite the UK truly is worrying…

No, it’s not all about you.

So what information is available to France but not to other European countries?

I’m in Germany and travel from the UK has been restricted since July. People have to quarantine when they get here - unless they’re vaccinated and tick certain requirements that make them exempt. There’s a travel review every Friday and I fully expect the UK to go on the variant red list tomorrow or next week. That means a total ban on travel, for anyone who isn’t a citizen. Essential reasons or not.

Spain doesn’t allow unvaccinated UK travellers at all. It’s not just France.

The UK are testing a lot but also have lax requirements around close contact isolation. That’s why it’s spreading. If you’re vaccinated you don’t self isolate - what kind of nonsense is that? If you don’t have one of the ‘main 3’ symptoms, and you test negative, you’re asked to come into work. With a headache, sore throat, and after being a close contact of 6 positive people. That is all madness and not something other countries are doing.

@EileenGC, my aunt is German and I read your post in her voice - it did make me smile

It’s not just France.

So far this measure is just France, at least in Europe.

@IcedPurple

Relations between France and Britain have been pretty tense of late, so I'm guessing this is at least in part politically motivated. It's not as if there would be tons of British tourists travelling to France over the next few weeks, so it's no great loss to their economy in return for 'being seen to do something' and scoring political points.

The ski slopes are just opening, so lots of "us" now having to cancel holidays....

Re case numbers, according to The Times:

The UK, which has been a world leader in sequencing, provides a full genome for just under one in five positive cases. In France, it is fewer than one in fifty. In the past week total cases in France have risen to the highest level since the winter.

France currently has twice as many people hospitalised and twice as many in intensive care beds as the UK. Those 240 cases of Omicron declared in France will be a drop in the ocean compared to real numbers.

@EileenGC

So what information is available to France but not to other European countries?

I’m in Germany and travel from the UK has been restricted since July. People have to quarantine when they get here - unless they’re vaccinated and tick certain requirements that make them exempt. There’s a travel review every Friday and I fully expect the UK to go on the variant red list tomorrow or next week. That means a total ban on travel, for anyone who isn’t a citizen. Essential reasons or not.

Spain doesn’t allow unvaccinated UK travellers at all. It’s not just France.

The UK are testing a lot but also have lax requirements around close contact isolation. That’s why it’s spreading. If you’re vaccinated you don’t self isolate - what kind of nonsense is that? If you don’t have one of the ‘main 3’ symptoms, and you test negative, you’re asked to come into work. With a headache, sore throat, and after being a close contact of 6 positive people. That is all madness and not something other countries are doing.

So different from France which is applying the quarantine to fully vaccinated British tourists with negative tests.

Just like fully vaxxed French travellers to the UK have to quarantine whilst waiting for PCR test results despite having to have a negative one before travelling...

I know sneering at the U.K. from your lofty perch in Oz is a sport for you, but perhaps ask yourself what public health purpose is served by banning British arrivals when France has as much Omicron as the U.K. and an open border to Denmark?

Wow, aren't you a treat!

The French are doing whatever they can to prevent a further increase in their numbers while they increase their booster shots.

Every country has their rules. Some of us are more alarmed than you would like, but every country and every person has a right to protect themselves and those around them. You're in a terrible situation. Your best advisers are trying to get that point across. If you can't see that, then you will of course accuse others who point it out by their comments - or in France's case, by their self-protective actions - as the ones to blame.