But for some, the notion of getting on a plane now or in the near future remains unthinkable. Nothing that airlines, government officials or fellow travelers can say will convince you to get on board.
CNN spoke to some of these freelancers to find out their biggest concerns about air travel right now and what it would take to get back above 30,000 feet.
For Chris Trinh, a 41-year-old Minnesota-based father of four, the decision to stay away from planes is partly due to his children – their youngest son is only 10 months old and says he would be concerned about his tracking. . in the hallway
It is also, he says, because he feels that no matter how careful he is, he cannot guarantee that others are equally aware.
“It’s hard to trust other people,” he tells CNN.
Trinh’s wife is Japanese, and the family often spend long vacations in Japan during the summer months. This is the first year that they will stay in the United States.
“The risk is too high and we just don’t want to travel,” he explains.
Trinh and her family are not alone. Retired CVS Health engineering manager Vincent Marseglia, 70, is also avoiding flying.
“You are going to be close to people, even if they leave the middle seats open,” Marseglia told CNN, speaking from her home in Rhode Island.
Chris Trinh is concerned about traveling with his young children.
Courtesy of Chris Trinh.
“There’s no way I’m going to get on a plane. Even before that, you have crowds at airports going through security, so you’re just exposing yourself.”
Dean Calin, 60, based in Wisconsin, who has worked in the commercial aircraft industry for more than three decades, has similar concerns.
Calin says his extensive knowledge of aviation makes him more cautious than flying in the coronavirus era.
“Despite the fact that airlines are taking steps to clean the interiors and the air is thoroughly filtered as an air conditioning system process, all that cannot offset the possible contamination that passengers will bring each time the plane is loaded” says Calin CNN
“I just don’t think that without a vaccine there is still a safe way to travel.”
Rethink plans
Vincent Marseglia and his wife on a train traveling through France in 2016. Right now, they are staying at their home in Rhode Island.
Courtesy of Vincent Marseglia.
Discarding air travel means rethinking vacation plans.
Marseglia says that, due to his age, he is being careful in all aspects of his life. She is distancing herself socially during meetings with her grandchildren and would also not ride a train or share a car with anyone but her wife.
Marseglia lives by the ocean in Rhode Island, and is trading vacation dreams in Italy for local and socially distant outings on the Jamestown coast.
You are cautious when traveling to other states, as different regions of the United States have adopted different strategies to quarantine and manage the virus.
But while pouring over photographs of past adventures in Europe, currently bittersweet, Marseglia is aware that she is in a prime position, and many of them have been more negatively affected by Covid-19.
“Even when a vaccine is available, I am not going to be the first to run away and get it,” says Marseglia, who notes that he is fortunate to be able to stay home and not worry about returning to the workplace.
“I am willing to wait as long as it takes to get the vaccine, so if it is next year or next year, I will not make any plans to do any kind of extensive travel until I know it is out there, and it is available and it’s effective and I can get it. “
Marseglia and his wife in Florence, Italy.
Courtesy of Vincent Marseglia.
Dean Calin tells CNN that he has been self-isolating for more than 100 days, due to concerns about the virus’s impact on his asthma.
In addition to working in the aerospace industry, Calin is also a singer in a group. In early 2020, I was looking forward to aviation-focused business travel alongside music concerts around the world. That is all on hold for now.
“It is a sacrifice that we have to make, if we intend to continue living” is Calin’s perspective. “It is challenging and it is a different way of living your life, but the alternative is to ignore it is to court death.”
Like Marseille, Calin says he would only return to heaven if he had been vaccinated and knew that the rest of the population had also had time to be vaccinated.
Right now, he calls those who travel again “either too brave or too foolish.”
“I just don’t believe that without a vaccine. There is still a safe way to travel,” he says.
How safe is traveling?
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, tells CNN that he does not currently recommend air travel, particularly in the United States.
“We have been recommending our patients only truly essential travel today, because in this country, the virus is not under control. It is across the country and continues to spread in an inhibited way,” Schaffner told CNN.
Schaffner’s perspective is that people should only travel for personal reasons, in unavoidable circumstances.
“Even then, we ask them to do it very, very cautiously, wearing their masks at all times, maintaining social distance,” he adds.
Schaffner is primarily concerned with the possibility of the virus spreading in crowded airports, where it is difficult to maintain social distance. He also expresses his concern for travelers who are crowded into the cabin.
While some are cautious, others return to air travel.
CNN
“All the commotion that has to do with travel often brings you very close to others in closed spaces,” he says.
Schaffner is also concerned about the impact of traveling back and forth from a place where there could be a particularly high number of cases.
The infectious disease expert owns a vacation home in Florida, where he and his wife usually spend the summer months. They won’t be going there this year, he explains. The couple is in the risk category because of their age, which increases their hesitation, but they are also concerned about the high infection rate in Florida.
“Once we receive a vaccine or vaccines, and it can be shown that they are reasonably effective and safe and they begin to distribute, then if we were vaccinated, then we can travel,” says Schaffner.
Dean Calin, former frequent flyer
“And we would be even more comforted if we realize that the vast majority of the population also received the vaccine,” he adds. “I think that will reduce the transmission of this Covid virus, so things can really start to go back to normal.”
That said, Schaffner is aware that this could be free time.
“I think this precautionary period will be quite long, over a period of months, long months,” says Schaffner.
In the U.S., Operation Warp Speed is a vaccine program that aims to administer a Covid-19 vaccine by 2021.
Temporal reality
Trinh remains optimistic that her family will one day be able to travel comfortably again.
Courtesy of Chris Trinh.
Trinh is willing to play the long game when it comes to returning to global travel.
On the day they would have flown to Japan, Trinh’s wife and children were upset by the plans that should not exist. Not only were they saddened by the canceled vacations; they don’t know when they will see their extended family again.
But Trinh says he is cautiously optimistic about the future.
“I feel like it’s just a temporary thing, right? I mean, if it lasts a year, maybe two years, that’s what we have to do,” he says. “For me, it is unfortunate that it is happening, but at the same time, I hope it is a one-time thing in life.”
Trinh is also a diplomat when it comes to reports of other travelers returning to the skies in packed planes.
“I see it as each person’s choice,” he says. “I mean, as long as everyone accepts the risks they’re taking, I think it’s fine.”
She is confident that there will be a solution, eventually, and her family will board a plane once again.
“Hopefully it improves at that point, that we return to travel annually,” he says.
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