Posted on 05/25/2020 6:37:50 AM PDT by cll
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Known for its world-class beaches, laid-back vibe and status as a natural-disaster magnet, Puerto Rico is hoping to make another name for itself: innovator in pandemic travel.
Since mid-March, the U.S. commonwealth has been requiring visitors to endure one of the strictest medical screenings of any state or territory. Doctors in protective suits take their temperatures, grill them about their travel history and, in some cases, hustle them off for COVID-19 tests.
As the world wrestles with how to welcome back tourists without rolling out the red carpet for the coronavirus, Puerto Rico — bankrupt and battered by hurricanes and earthquakes — thinks its aggressive stance may be part of the solution. Of 77,000 passengers who have run the medical gantlet at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport near San Juan in the past two months, slightly more than 200 have tested positive.
~ snip ~
Samir and Jazlynn Latif, Philadelphia natives who live in Puerto Rico, emerged from the airport on a recent weekday — neither had been required to do additional testing.
Samir, a 27-year-old DJ who travels frequently, said Puerto Rico was doing more than any airport they’ve visited recently on the East Coast. In Fort Lauderdale, where they had boarded, there were fewer controls, although many airlines are now requiring masks. “This is the safest we’ve felt at any airport,” he said.
Jazlynn, 21, was less impressed. While she was waiting to get her temperature checked and answer questions, she was forced to stand in a tight line that snaked around the baggage carousel. There was no attempt to maintain social distancing, she said.
“I don’t know how safe and secure it is during corona time,” she said. “They get an A for effort. Maybe a B minus.”
I have to be honest that if this sort of additional screening is likely for flying, let alone admission into other states or countries, it is likely I will being doing most or all of my traveling via automobile. I already hate standing in line at the airport. This will just give people yet another reason to stay local.
Courtesy ping.
Good to know.
Accustomed to left-wing media I read this as: "As the world wrestles with how to welcome back tourists without rolling out the red carpet for the conservatives.
“, Puerto Rico — bankrupt and battered by hurricanes and earthquakes”
Don’t necessarily agree with that totally. It fails to recognize PR sealed it’s economic fate when they ran the US Navy out. That was a high financial hit IMO.
Scratch Puerto Rico off the list of potential vacation spots.
What a goat rope. My whole family and I went thru this airport going to and returning from the British Virgin Islands just before the Covid stuff started. It is one of the biggest messes of an airport that I have ever been thru, and that’s a lot over my military and business lifetime. It’s a labyrinth of big and small mostly un-air conditioned concourses, foul tempered employees, customs officers, and TSA thugs. I cannot imagine what it would be like with this crazy covid crap thrown into the mix. Geeze!
As a point of ckarificatkon, exactly what does testing positive Jean,? You currently have they virus, you had the virus, or you are contagious right now? I have not seen any explanation of that.
Absolutely. Next Hawaiian vacation, I’m driving there.
Bring Out Your Dead
Post to me or FReep mail to be on/off the Bring Out Your Dead ping list.
The purpose of the “Bring Out Your Dead” ping list (formerly the “Ebola” ping list) is very early warning of emerging pandemics, as such it has a high false positive rate.
The false positive rate was 100%.
At some point we may well have a high mortality pandemic, and likely as not the “Bring Out Your Dead” threads will miss the beginning entirely.
*sigh* Such is life, and death...
If a quarantine saves just one child's or one old fart’s life, it's worth it.
That’s exactly what I remember from my trip to PR! Always nervous being in a place where the locals are worried enough about crime that they’re buying wrought iron and razor wire by the metric ton - meanwhile I’m unarmed.
Do you want that to be a two lane or four lane bridge?
Two years ago, the Trade Association I belong to, polled members to see if they were interested in going to Puerto Rico for our Annual Convention. Not one vote for PR. We ended up voting for Orlando.
Pretty much impossible to do in CONUS (a little government lingo), although Hawaii is basically doing the same - saying FluBros aren’t welcome there:
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