Perhaps not the most revealing to anyone familiar with the topic but still worth reading:
It concerns me that we have travel bans from Covid areas of concern such as India and the EU, as well as China, yet students are exempt. This is the same thinking that left the borders basically wide open all last year even though numerous countries were on travel ban lists. Travel spreads the virus. Period. And then people complained that we didn’t act like New Zealand and crush the virus. They closed their borders to everyone, including citizens. Not saying we should have done it but you can’t have it both ways.
Are students less likely to bring variants? If so why? How will the universities handle students who aren’t vaccinated? Will they all quarantine together for a month or more before rejoining campus life? What if the universities aren’t offering remote learning?
In the end colleges are a business and there’s no higher calling than making a buck.
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Well, if we get to herd immunity, it would be a moot point.
Agreed but we don’t seem close here in the US and most other countries are even further away.
Getting to herd immunity in the US does not stop the virus from continuing to circulate and grow in many other countries and it doesn’t stop it from possibly mutating there and then being brought here. If a new mutation is not covered by our immunity then we could just start this all over again. US immunity alone does not guarantee protection in the future.
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I don’t think student visas should be given priority over others, such as spouses or children trying to get to the US with a citizen spouse/parent. Being able to study in the US is a luxury, not a right or a need. I don’t want colleges to have the right to decide how many visas should be issued just because they admitted X number of foreign students to balance their budgets.
I don’t think the US should waive the procedure for getting a student visa (the interview, the payment for the interview, etc) Someone decided those things are required to insure the international students are in it for (as they’d say on the Bachelor) “the right reason.”
They have recently decided that Americans can return to the US on expired passports (expired from 1/1/2020) until the end of the year. You can’t use and expired passport to leave the US, or to leave the airport in any country you travel through, but just to get home. That’s how behind the foreign embassies and consulates are.
Yup, I’m mean but lets take care of Americans first. Lets get passports to American citizens overseas first (new spouses, babies born overseas), lets get emergency passports issued.
I thought the US should have closed borders like NZ, Australia, most of Europe did. People were still pouring into the NYC airports all through the worst months last year and that really contributed to the spread.
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What’s the explanation for the dramatic decline in hospitalizations and cases in recent weeks if it isn’t due to herd immunity from vaccines, given everything has been opening up? It’s pretty much at the same level of vaccinations (~50% of the population with one dose) where Israel also saw a rapid decline in cases.
Herd immunity doesn’t mean zero cases, it means a rapid decline and then a low enough level of new cases that life can resume as normal. You can argue we aren’t there yet since we are still in the declining phase (and some states are further along than others), but I think that saying “we don’t seem close” would be unduly pessimistic.
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But it is not the those coming from India or China may bring the virus with them, it’s that the US can’t process visas fast enough. They are YEARS behind now.
The government has allowed students with expired visas to continue studying in the US, even remotely, while waiting for their visas renewals to process. Student in foreign countries can study remotely without a visa so the colleges could still collect tuition if the students in those countries are willing to study remotely. What isn’t happening is giving students priority for renewals. If a student is in the US and doesn’t have a renewal, that student can’t travel home to India or China or Iran and expect to get back into the US.
It’s just prioritizing who gets to the front of the line. Of course colleges want paying students to be the priority. Of course parents want their new born or adopted children to be processed first. Of course businesses want their new hires or seasonal workers to be processed. There was a story yesterday on the national news that summer camps, amusement parks, etc. don’t have workers as those are often college students who come for the summer. No lifeguards, no counselors, no cooks, farm workers, etc. All are important to the US economy but the visas just can’t be processed fast enough.
US has started issuing student visas to Chinese students. Not sure about others though. And aren’t they they largest percentage of internationals?
Something to think about in connection with allowing unvaccinated people into the US, especially if quarantines are either gone or not being enforced (which I’d argue they never were in the first place).
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Well this is surely the key question: will the quarantine-free reciprocity with Europe that is likely to be established in the next month (probably at the G7 summit) be based on fully vaccinated only?
That seems to me the most plausible option, so if that is the case then why wouldn’t the US apply the same rule to the rest of the world? Or would that be discriminating against poorer countries with less access to vaccines?