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

Entry restrictions into the UK have been much higher than within EU all year. I have not travelled back due to cost and complexity of testing and need to isolate at some points. Plus it seems to change every 5 minutes. It's totally out of order to now criticize the French for putting rules into place. Europe looks at UK aghast, not because of Omicron, which of course is everywhere, but because they don't seem to be doing anything about it.

It's interesting to compare this thread with the similar one on Germany's ban on travellers from the UK, which came into force last night.

@milkyaqua

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.

It is an act of abject futility born out of narrow-minded nationalism. Omicron already makes up a significant proportion of France’s cases. A handful of additional cases from Britain will make no difference to outcomes at this point, given Omicron’s doubling time.

Clearly even Australia agrees as it has not added the U.K. to its red list.

So where is the thread vilifying Scholz?

@AuldAlliance

So where is the thread vilifying Scholz?

Exactly AA..

The restrictions on British tourists that the German authorities introduced a day or two back don’t seem to have triggered a single “grrr Scholz” here or in the MSM ..

Perhaps there’s less vitriol aimed at Germany because it didn’t outright ban U.K. residents from entering, it implemented a long home quarantine instead.

Still pointless IMO. Omicron went from 3% of cases in the US last week to over 70% yesterday. Border closures this late in the game will do nothing to change the trajectory of a virus this contagious.

@IndigoC

Perhaps there’s less vitriol aimed at Germany because it didn’t outright ban U.K. residents from entering, it implemented a long home quarantine instead.

Still pointless IMO. Omicron went from 3% of cases in the US last week to over 70% yesterday. Border closures this late in the game will do nothing to change the trajectory of a virus this contagious.

I’m not being awkward, honest, but I’m confused by the first paragraph in that comment….(FWIW I’m inclined to agree with the second para)

There is most most definitely not a total ban on all Brits/ all “UK travelers ” entering France….the thread title is highly misleading.

The French rules still allow UK citizens resident in France to enter France, it does however ban Brits not resident in France from entering for the purposes of tourism and I think business.

I’ll admit I haven’t looked at the German rules in fine detail but I thought they had now also stopped Brits not resident in Germany for the purposes of tourism….

I just checked the detailed rules and you are correct @notimagain under the German rules only British nationals resident in Germany may enter etc. This wasn’t what I read in the news, but that was obviously lacking in detail. I think it might actually be worse than France?

At any rate, both policies are pointless. France likely has as much Omicron as the U.K. Seeding events from Africa will have occurred in the same period. Perhaps Germany is a little behind but the US shows just how quickly that can change. All of these countries are past the “buying time” phase if there was ever really one to begin with. This sort of petty nationalism helps not at all.

FWIW most recent French figures I’ve seen showing the variant split had omicron being about 9% of the total case number…..that was for cease work 17th Dec so where we are now on 21st….??????

Talk today is of it now being much higher, surprise, surprise, but not officially quantified and strong possibility of restrictions being placed on New Years Eve celebrations.

@notimagain

FWIW most recent French figures I’ve seen showing the variant split had omicron being about 9% of the total case number…..that was for cease work 17th Dec so where we are now on 21st….??????

Talk today is of it now being much higher, surprise, surprise, but not officially quantified and strong possibility of restrictions being placed on New Years Eve celebrations.

France doesn’t sequence as much the U.K., I think? I imagine it wouldn’t be far off the U.K. and the US. This thing doubles in 2 days.

Travel restrictions to “buy time to boost” makes some sense at the beginning of the exponential curve, but not so much when you get into tens of thousands of local cases per day.

Germany has again brought in a rule that only Germans, permanent residents and immediate family members can enter Germany from UK. They need a PCR and must then quarantine for 14 days irrespective of vaccine status.

These are the same rules they implemented after the Delta wave and which remained in place for several months.

There has been an outcry from people (Germans and Brits) impacted by this. One of the strongest complaints is that the 14 day quarantine means people are legally prevented from leaving home to test - so Germany will have no idea how many, if any, of these travellers does indeed have Omicron. Since they can quarantine at home with other family members - who do not themselves have to quarantine - the obvious risk is that they pass Omicron to family members who then pass it into the wider community. So there is no logic to this position and those impacted see it as an absurd punitive move.

Germany’s big problem is the lack of vaccine take up in more vulnerable demographics. This is largely a result of the poor messaging by Spahn around the vaccines earlier in the pandemic. He was keen to talk down AZ to cover his own failure to procure vaccines for the German population. The failures continue with a slow, unco-ordinated booster rollout, with many who want a booster having to wait for their GP to procure them. So depending on individual GPs, some 20 year olds have had a booster while some vulnerable 80 year olds are still waiting.

The main reason there has been no big outcry in UK is that relatively few Brits go to Germany for Christmas and NY.

@Weihnachtsmarkt

Do you mind if I ask you if you know what the current rules are for travelling between Germany and France and if there are any rumblings of tightening the restrictions.

My head is already scrambled by keeping up with the France/UK changes. Having abandoned all our Christmas travel plans to the UK from both countries (different family groups) we are now hoping to have a few days here in France with the German contingent in a few weeks.

I'm not asking you to do my googling for me , just wondered if you knew off the top of your head.

@percythewitch

I think that,for the moment, travellers coming from inside EU can enter with a PCR. No further quarantine required.

www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/coming-to-france/coming-to-france-your-covid-19-questions-answered/article/coming-to-france-your-covid-19-questions-answered

The rules depend on where you have been for the last 10 days, not on your nationality. Same is required for return travel to Germany.

But what the situation will be in a couple of weeks is anybody’’s guess.

@AuldAlliance
So where is the thread vilifying Scholz?

Not that many Brits think Germany is a top winter holiday destination Skiing is the big pull - Austria, Switzerland and France are way more popular!

@Weihnachtsmarkt

Thank you! There was a brief period where double vaxxed people could travel freely in mainland Europe with no test requirement.

Looks like things are tightening up quite quickly in Germany and who knows what is on the cards for us here in France.

Sorry for the slight derail!

Wow you seem selfish. People are testing so we don't get others sick. How are we to know if it's covid or a cold!!

It's people like you who are the problem

@Blackbird2020

By that logic, if you are a popular tourist destination, you should not restrict travel to your country, because it's clearly a purely political decision, but if you're not, then it's entirely justified?

@Weihnachtsmarkt

Germany has again brought in a rule that only Germans, permanent residents and immediate family members can enter Germany from UK. They need a PCR and must then quarantine for 14 days irrespective of vaccine status.

These are the same rules they implemented after the Delta wave and which remained in place for several months.

There has been an outcry from people (Germans and Brits) impacted by this. One of the strongest complaints is that the 14 day quarantine means people are legally prevented from leaving home to test - so Germany will have no idea how many, if any, of these travellers does indeed have Omicron. Since they can quarantine at home with other family members - who do not themselves have to quarantine - the obvious risk is that they pass Omicron to family members who then pass it into the wider community. So there is no logic to this position and those impacted see it as an absurd punitive move.

Germany’s big problem is the lack of vaccine take up in more vulnerable demographics. This is largely a result of the poor messaging by Spahn around the vaccines earlier in the pandemic. He was keen to talk down AZ to cover his own failure to procure vaccines for the German population. The failures continue with a slow, unco-ordinated booster rollout, with many who want a booster having to wait for their GP to procure them. So depending on individual GPs, some 20 year olds have had a booster while some vulnerable 80 year olds are still waiting.

The main reason there has been no big outcry in UK is that relatively few Brits go to Germany for Christmas and NY.

Yes, there seem to be too many unvaccinated vulnerable in Germany, and so it has high deaths compared to the U.K. right now. A role reversal to the start of the pandemic when Germany did a better job with lockdowns etc, limiting spread.

Agree the lack of outcry is down to comparative lack of movement between the U.K. and Germany.

France is our neighbour (I can see it from my house on a clear day!) and it’s a big deal to close the border at Xmas. They’ve just reported an all time high of 72,832 cases. Earlier today the French government announced that at least 1/3 of the cases in Paris are omicron. I do not see the point of border closures when omicron is so deeply entrenched. I hope the ban is lifted quickly.

@AuldAlliance

Sorry, I don’t follow you? I was just hypothesising the reason for why there’s no angry MN thread vilifying Schloz, now that Germany has banned U.K. tourists.

I find it hard to get worked up about this - it’s not personal and we do it to other countries.

Every politician has their reasoning; whether that just be ‘seen’ to be doing something or actually pre-emptively taking action sensibly, who knows.

UK leads the way in Europe on sequencing so I’m pleased we test as much as we do and report what we do. Whole point is countries are open and share information even if it (inevitably) means you may be hit economically.

Those getting worked up, think how much better life would be had China fessed up when it should have not once but multiple times now with SARS. That’s the whole point, transparency.