Mexico News Today Monday, January 25, 2021

 

MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021

Putin promises 24 million doses of vaccine President López Obrador said Monday that he had spoken to the Russian president, who agreed to supply Mexico with the Sputnik V vaccine. FULL STORY

AMLO in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19 President López Obrador is staying at his home in the National Palace after receiving the diagnosis. His symptoms are said to be mild. FULL STORY

Citizens called on to help halt pandemic's spread A round-up of the latest coronavirus news from around the country. FULL STORY US quarantine requirement seen as new blow to tourism to Mexico and airline travel A mandate for all travelers entering the United States to isolate will discourage American visitors, says an aviation and tourism expert. FULL STORY  AMLO goes after senior Twitter official but gets many of his facts wrong A Twitter executive who was maligned by the president was the target of false claims on social media, the Associated Press has determined. FULL STORY  ADVERTISEMENT At 124, lifelong farmer Don Manuel García might be the world's oldest person ever The centenarian has had 17 children, lived through two world wars and even through the Mexican Revolution in 1910. FULL STORY  MEXICO LIFE Go beyond your Superbowl guacamole with Mexico's ubiquitous avocado Expand your gastronomic experience further than guac and tortilla chips, Janet Blaser writes in this week's The Tropical Table. FULL STORY  19 burned bodies in Tamaulipas thought to be Guatemalan migrants While authorities have not confirmed their identities, a soccer team in Guatemala is claiming one of the victims as its own. FULL STORY Guanajuato governor, feds meet to discuss security  A day after it was confirmed that the state recorded its most violent year on record, the federal security minister met with Governor Diego Sinhue Rodríguez Vallejo. FULL STORY  Line 1 of the capital's subway system resumes operations after fire On Monday, Mexico City's Metro reopened one of three lines that have been shut down for two weeks due to the blaze on January 9.  FULL STORY OPINION Campeche is one of the world's six inaugural BlueCommunities  The state quietly continues to attract international attention for its progressive, community-driven environmental programs, Shannon Collins writes. FULL STORY  MEXICO LIFE Mexico's snow and ice sculptors are champions in an unfamiliar medium Abel Ramírez never saw snow until his 40s, but won snow and ice sculpture competitions worldwide, Leigh Thelmadatter writes. FULL STORY  THE MND POLL THE STORY: Facebookóatl? AMLO moves to create social media network for Mexicans.  FULL STORY THE QUESTION:  Is censorship by social media serious enough to justify the creation of a publicly-owned network in Mexico? VOTE HERE LAST POLL: Is a transparency watchdog no longer necessary now that corrupt, neoliberal governments are a thing of the past in Mexico? 97% said it is still necessary. FULL RESULTS

💉 ✈️ Vaccine passports and the return of travel

 

Last week I wrote to you about what airfare will look like once the pent up demand for travel begins to release, and how to frontrun the upcoming surge. Today I want to help shine light on what new requirements to expect once vaccines become widely available, and when we might hope to travel overseas again. 🇺🇸 Proof of vaccination likely will not be required for domestic travel While there are significant restrictions on international travel, virtually none exist on domestic travel. You can hop on a domestic flight today without having to even show a negative test, much less proof of vaccination. As vaccines become broadly available and travel demand picks up, travel restrictions will begin to fall. But with so few restrictions on domestic travel today—at the height of the pandemic—it’s unlikely that new requirements will be implemented as the pandemic begins to recede. (Sidenote: I would expect airplane mask requirements to persist at least through the end of 2021.) ️ Proof of vaccination likely will be required for international travel A few dozen countries permit American travelers today, but of course most countries are temporarily closed. Once vaccines start becoming widely available, countries that are currently inaccessible—including tourist favorites like Japan and New Zealand and much of Europe—will begin opening up, but likely only for vaccinated travelers. As countries require proof of vaccination, frontline enforcement will likely be shouldered by airlines, much as they do with passports. Think back to the last time you flew internationally. A passport is required at your destination, but it’s the airline who does the first check before you board because they have to fly you home if you don’t have a passport and aren’t allowed in. So too will it likely be with proof of vaccination.  Vaccine passports Proof of vaccination in order to enter a country is colloquially known as a vaccine passport. There are two possibilities for what this could look like: analog or digital. When you get a COVID-19 vaccine today, you’re given a little white card. You may have to show this to border officials, much like certain countries require you to show a “yellow card” to prove you’ve been vaccinated against yellow fever and other diseases. The more likely prospect is an app. The process would be simple—you upload your proof of vaccination to the app, which generates a QR code that gets you through immigration. A number of free apps are under development by international organizations, with a Swiss nonprofit called CommonPass seemingly the furthest along. Once international destinations begin opening up, I think it’s likely that either proof of vaccination or a recent negative test will be sufficient for travelers. Similarly, while the US just announced a new rule requiring a negative test before entering the country, including for US citizens returning from abroad, I would expect this will change to either a negative test or proof of vaccination. Vaccine passports will be one more item on traveler’s pre-trip checklist, but for tens of millions of people who’ve been stuck at home during these godforsaken times, it’s a small price to pay.  When will international travel resume? International travel will likely resume, in Hemingway’s maxim, “gradually and then suddenly.” As vaccines roll out and a few countries begin re-opening, expect a cascade effect. I would be surprised if places like Europe, Japan, and elsewhere currently closed to Americans weren’t open again by this summer. Spain, for instance, just announced their intention to open by April. There are variables that could push that date back—a hampered vaccine rollout, the path of more transmissible strains like the UK variant. But there are also factors that could improve the timetable—accelerated vaccine rollout, more vaccine candidates getting approved like the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine, warmer weather allowing more outdoors activities where risk is lower. One final note: Opening up international travel isn’t an afterthought for government leaders. By some estimates, tourism accounts for 1 in 10 jobs worldwide. That humble bed-and-breakfast in Hamburg and that mom-and-pop tour agency in Lagos are eager to welcome tourists again as soon as it’s safe because their livelihoods depend on it. And with millions of people getting vaccinated around the world every day, there’s reason for optimism. What do you think? Let us know on twitter.