Returning to the USA During Covid-19 World

When the Covid pandemic hit the world in early 2020, I was traveling in Turkey. I ended up staying in Turkey for several months during their national lock-down. After that, I simply continued traveling overseas throughout the pandemic, albeit at a slower pace.

In fact, I specifically avoided returning to the USA until recently, primarily because the Covid situation in the US has been so bad. In case you weren’t aware, the US has continuously been the #1 worst country globally since almost the beginning of the pandemic. That means, literally, that every other country in the world is less risky than the US!

So I just stayed away, waiting for the pandmenic to calm down Stateside and for a majority of Americans to get vaccinated. While ‘waiting’ to return for a visit I traveled around Turkey, Croatia, Bosnia, Egypt, Georgia (country) and, most recently, to Aruba.

Finally, in late August, 2021, I flew back to Florida briefly, en route to Aruba. I then stayed in Aruba nearly two months and finally returned to Florida in late October. So I’ve had two recent experiences of entering the US from abroad. Here are my findings…

Rules & Procedures for Entering the USA

Entering the US is pretty straightforward and nearly the as before the pandemic, particulary for American citizens. There are just two added Covid-related regulations you must adhere to:

1. All arrivals to the USA must have a recent negative Covid test
2. All arrivals must sign an Attestation Form, basically stating that they did, indeed, take a Covid test.

Negative Covid Test Requirement

Like every other country right now, the US government requires that all arrivals – both citiizens and non citizens- have documented proof of having a negative Covid test, taken within 3 days of arrival.

Compared to many other countries, the US is actually considerably more flexible about the Covid tests, on two counts. First off, while most countries only accept a PCR Test, the US also accepts the faster & easier antigen test.

Both tests check for the presence of the Covid-19 virus in your respiratory system. The more thorough PCR test takes swabs from both nose and throat. The PCR’s lab test is more complicated and generally takes 12-24 hours to return a result.

The Antigen test requires only a quick nose swab. The antigen lab test is more simple, returning results within just four hours. It’s often less expensive than PCR test as well. All of that makes it easier, less expensive and faster for travelers.

The US accepts either test.

Secondly, passengers can show their test results either in paper format or digital format, on their phones. Most other countries only accept paper documents with the lab/clinic/physician’s signature and stamp clearly visible.

Depending on your location before your return flight to the US (country, city, neighborhood), it can be difficult and/or pesky to get paper documents of the test results. So having the digital option makes things much easier.

Attestation Form

This is a simple form the US government has created for people to sign, declaring ‘legally’ that they have taken a Covid test under the guidelines given.

According to the CDC website, all airlines flying into the USA are required to have the documents, give them to passengers to sign, and then collect the forms before passengers board the flight. But passengers can also download the form, print it out, sign it, and then present it to their airline during check-in.

Nina Schwarz on Lufthansa flight — Lufthansa flight

International Flights Conditions During Covid-19

I’ve seen many, many US news reports throughout this year about unruly plane passengers on US domestic flights, passengers refusing to wear masks or otherwise making a rucuous about airlines’ Covid regulations.

In great contrast, I’ve never seen or heard of any such problems on flights outside the USA. On all the many international flights I’ve taken druing the past two years, everyone on every flight was wearing a mask. That includes airline staff and passengers. And nobody was making a fuss about mask regulations.

In other words, international flights during the Covid pandemic are rather safe, orderly and unstressed.

At US Airports

Each of my recent trips entering and exiting the USA took place at Miami International Airport. I also passed through Tampa International Airport en route to/from Miami. So my experience at US airports in 2021 include only these two.

After seeing several news reports about unruly & violent passengers on flights and inside airports (including one at Miami International just before I flew to Aruba) I was slightly wary of pa,ssing through domestic airports in the US. I also knew that Miami was a huge hot-spot for Covid during the time of my trips.

So I was quite pleasantly surprised to find everyone inside the airports – Miami and Tampa – wearing masks and behaving in an orderly, normal manner.

On the otherhand, Miami Airport was very crowded and bustling all three times I passed through. And most people were not paying any attention to social distancing. They were all just racing around, paying absolutely no attention to other people around them.

So in terms of Covid prevention/safety procedures, the US airports were a mixed bag. People wear masks but don’t follow social distancing rules. That’s basically what I noticed at airports in other countries.

My Experiences in the USA in regards to Covid practices

Before I returned to the US, I already knew that a large percentage of Americans were anti-vaccine, anti-mask and even against believing in Covid (whatever that means?). In addition, at the time of my travels Florida had the highest rate of Covid infections in the whole USA (meaning in the whole world), with a very beligerant, defiant anti-mask governor only making things much worse.

So I arrived in St Petersburg expecting to find up to 50% of the population not wearing masks out in public or even in stores, restaurants, bars or other venues.

Once again, I was surprised to find most people at supermarkets wearing masks. Even more surprsingly, most people were also making an attempt at social distancing. Wow!

That actually meant that Americans were behaving more safely than in most other countries I’d been traveling through. In most countries I visited, people were generally wearing masks indoors, but were completely oblivious to the concept of social distancing. In the US it was clear that most people were at least aware of the idea and trying to stay away from each other.

However, the few times I’ve been out to restaurants, bars and events here in St Pete, I’ve found that absolutely nobody wears masks indoors! That goes for both staff and customers. Nor do they observe social distancing. They all behave as if Covid doesn’t exist.

And more recently, I’ve also observed that most people have also stopped wearing masks inside stores. It seems as if a new rule has been put into place, which might be so. But I haven’t heard anything about throwing all precautions to the wind.

I’m not sure if this is a Florida thing, due to our awful governor De Santis? Or if that’s how Americans are now behaving all over the country.

If you’re in the US, how are people behaving in your state and city?

You might also like:

What It’s Like doing International Travel during Covid-19 Pandemic

Update on Staying Safe Traveling During Covid-19 Pandemic

===================================