The US lifted travel restrictions on Monday from a long list of countries including Mexico, Canada and most of Europe, allowing tourists to travel long-delayed and family members to reconnect with loved ones after being more than a year and a half apart from the pandemic.
“I’ll jump into his arms, kiss him, touch him,” Gaye Camara said of the New York husband she hasn’t seen since COVID-19 brought the world of flight to life here and everywhere Halt.
“Talking about it alone makes me emotional,” said Camara, 40, as she rolled her luggage through Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, which could almost be mistaken for his pre-pandemic self, busy with humming crowds, albeit with face masks .
The rules, which will come into effect on Monday, allow air travel from a number of countries from which they have been restricted since the early days of the pandemic – as long as the traveler provides proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test. Anyone crossing a land border from Mexico or Canada needs proof of vaccination, but no test.
U.S. citizens and permanent residents were always allowed to enter the U.S., but travel bans closed tourists, frustrated business travelers, and often separated families.
Airlines are now preparing for an increase in travel. Data from travel and analytics company Cirium showed airlines increased flights between the UK and the US by 21% this month compared to the previous month.
Little did they know when Camara last saw Mamadou, her husband, in January 2020 that they would have to wait 21 months before holding on again. She lives in Alsace, France, where she works as a secretary. He is based in New York.
“In the beginning it was very difficult. I cried almost every night, “she said. “Thanks to him, I made it through. He knows how to talk to me, to calm me down. “
Video calls, text messages, and phone calls kept them in touch – but couldn’t fill the gap between them.
“I can’t wait,” she said. “To be with him, his presence, his face, his smile.”
For grandmother Maria Giribet, her grandchildren Gabriel and David are the apples of her eyes. The twins are in San Francisco, which could just as easily have been a different planet during the height of the pandemic for the 74-year-old Giribet, who lives on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Now 3 1/2 past 4, the boys were half the age when they last saw them.
“I’m going to hug her, choke her, that’s what I dream about,” said Giribet after checking in for her flight. As a widow, she lost her husband to a long pre-pandemic illness, and her three adult children all live abroad: a son in Paris, a daughter in Richmond, Virginia, and the father of the twins in San Francisco.
“I was all alone,” said Giribet, who was flying alone for the first time in her life.
The change will also have a profound impact on the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada, where traveling back and forth was a way of life until the pandemic broke out and the U.S. suspended non-essential travel.
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Malls, restaurants, and shops on Main Street in US border towns have been devastated by the lack of visitors from Mexico. On the border with Canada, cross-border hockey rivalries that were community traditions have been turned on their heads. Churches that have had members on both sides of the border hope to welcome parishioners they have not seen in nearly two years.
Loved ones missed holidays, birthdays, and funerals while banned unnecessary air travel, and they are now eager to reconnect.
River Robinson’s American partner couldn’t be in Canada for their baby 17 months ago. She was thrilled to hear about the US reopening.
“I’m planning on picking up my baby for Thanksgiving in America,” said Robinson, who lives in St. Thomas, Ontario. “If everything goes well at the border, I’ll take him off as much as possible.”
The US will accept travelers fully vaccinated with any of the World Health Organization’s emergency vaccinations, not just those in the US. That’s a relief for many in Canada, where the AstraZeneca vaccine is widely used.
The steps come as the U.S. COVID-19 outlook has improved dramatically in the past few weeks since the summer delta surge that marginalized hospitals in many places.
Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
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