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CDC adds Curaçao and the island nation of Antigua and Barbuda to "do not travel" list


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The CDC is just doing their job in advising everyone of the “Level 4: COVID-19 Very High” warning (the CDC’s highest) that all Americans are being encouraged to avoid all travel to these destinations.

The operative word in their announcement is "avoid".  The CDC is not stopping you from traveling to these destinations via airplane, etc.

But, I will tell anyone & everyone what I told a colleague of mine who thought he was "Slick Rick" and didn't listen to a similar warning and became infected with COVID and spread it to family: You Reap What You Sow”.

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Well at least the CDC has no say in restricting air travel.  I'd be more comfortable on a direct flight to a country that required a negative test to enter the country than I would on a domestic flight in the US.  But alas, I am sure when the CDC comes to reviewing the cruise line plans to get up and going, they're going to make sure that the itinerary doesn't include any of the countries on their risky list.  If you look at that listing of the level one and level two countries, that doesn't leave many places in the Caribbean that are currently low-risk to visit.

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I just looked at Curacao's public health web site. On March 2nd, the government conducted 278 tests and found 5 positives. That's a one day positivity rate of 1.79% (recall below 5% the virus is considered controlled/not circulating. The site I had access to did not have total tests per day or per month and you need to know that and the total population of Curacao (156,000) to fit Curacao into the grid that determines what level CDC assigns them found here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/how-level-is-determined.html

Curacao, like most Caribbean destinations, has strict protocols for entry and from what I can tell an able public health system that insures compliance. I simply can't imagine how this tiny country has reached a level 4 designation by the CDC. I don't have all the data I need to indicate they are mistaken but it seems to me, this place is pretty safe if you are taking basic precautions. 

I'd really like to know the numbers. I have so little trust in the CDC right now but would hope that Curacao fits into one of the boxes on the CDC grid that warrants a level 4 designation. I simply cant imagine it does based on the small amount of data I did see and the miniscule numbers of positive cases it looks like this country has on a daily basis....... but what do I know.

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5 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Just another form of gov't messaging to dissuade travelers and twist arms of small Caribbean islands

I think there is something to that first part. Maybe less so, the second. If I had the time and interest to dig into the data I talked about up thread so I could verify the how's and wherefores that the CDC put Curacao in the level 4 part of the grid, I'd do it.

This entire COVID pandemic has gotten so political that it would not surprise me at all that data was fudged or interpreted differently to support messaging from the US Government that, wait a minute, it's not safe for American's to travel yet even though vaccines are becoming widely available and SARS-2 infection risks and serious consequences developing from it, always pretty low, are being sent lower.

17 hours ago, twangster said:

Curacao should be putting the US under a level 4 alert. 

Actually, the US is doing pretty well but you'd not know that from most things everyone is reading or listening to. Even Fauci and Walenski (CDC) the current faces of the US Governments public health policies are adding a lot of rejoinders to positive COVID news.... or, hey, we're not ready yet, keep hibernating.

Have a look at this Johns Hopkins University COVID tracking display for new case numbers (something I believe to be too easily misinterpreted when looked at out of context). Only a tenth of US states have upward trending new case numbers. The greener the background the steeper the decreasing case numbers trend lines, the redder the background the steeper the increasing trend lines:
496600095_JHUTrends.JPG.7041ece7d6bbada2eadaa438fa53cc41.JPG 

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22 hours ago, JeffB said:

I'd really like to know the numbers. I have so little trust in the CDC right now but would hope that Curacao fits into one of the boxes on the CDC grid that warrants a level 4 designation. I simply cant imagine it does based on the small amount of data I did see and the miniscule numbers of positive cases it looks like this country has on a daily basis....... but what do I know.

Based on the CDC page and what you listed the population of Curacao (156000) they determine the level designation based on the total number of cases in a 28 day period. you mentioned that they reported 5 cases on the 2nd. To have a level 4 designation, there needs to be a total of over 100 cases during a 28 day period. doing some guestimation of assuming 5 cases a day, you will cross that 100 case threshold, and earn the level 4. Justified or not, I'm not important enough to say.

Edit:

I was also able to find on the WHO site, data reported by Curacao shows they are at 139 cases in the past 4 weeks. 

https://covid19.who.int/region/amro/country/cw

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16 minutes ago, GregD said:

Based on the CDC page and what you listed the population of Curacao (156000) they determine the level designation based on the total number of cases in a 28 day period. you mentioned that they reported 5 cases on the 2nd. To have a level 4 designation, there needs to be a total of over 100 cases during a 28 day period. doing some guestimation of assuming 5 cases a day, you will cross that 100 case threshold, and earn the level 4. Justified or not, I'm not important enough to say.

 

Hmmmm...... good guestimating. It peaked my interests so, I found what I needed at the web site I linked to below. I can interact with this graph displayed below at the link and can look at the daily case count. The 7d moving average as of 03/02 was 5 new cases/d so, after 20d, you'd hit that 100 case threshold. I'm good with that. Fair enough.

But, the problem with that is, why didn't Curacao get a Level 4 designation from August through early December? It looks like that PH authorities there did a swell job of controlling the virus and what do they get for that from the US? A slap in the face. Politics are funny. I would not be surprised at all to see Curacao prohibit US passport holders from entering their country.  https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/curacao/

Curacao.JPG.67b5fccce57108d46d7613bc8468dd25.JPG 

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9 minutes ago, JeffB said:

 

 

But, the problem with that is, why didn't Curacao get a Level 4 designation from August through early December?

 

The 4 tiered system didn't go fully into place until November 21, 2020. Prior to that there was a three level system, and based on their numbers, I bet they were a 3. The article states that Curacao and Antigua were added to the level 4 tier march 1st based on the increase in cases. I don't think its a slap in the face, its just a result of the small, but increasing number of cases there currently that crossed that level 4 threshold, and when you are talking only 100 cases over a 28 day period, that can potentially be quickly met.

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