Italy will stay closed to tourists till the end of 2020...

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, NJ Cruiserman said:

Sorry, but when I saw the same information elsewhere, I searched the internet and the only other post I came up with was yours, which is very unreliable. It is a Pakistani website sharing a Sputknik (=Russian propaganda) article which reports in English what an Italian Tourism Minister said in Italian to an Italian Newspaper.

There is no other verification that he said this, although I agree that it has been rumored for weeks.

I posted a link from ABC which is an Australian Government news site, very early in the thread. Maybe dr google doesn't search Australian sites. It pretty much confirmed the original news. 

[Covepointcruiser]

You May want to give this info to the EU in Belgium as they are currently planning to begin opening in May and are full expecting to be open for the summer crowds.   Best tell them they are wasting they time!

[markeb]

16 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I posted a link from ABC which is an Australian Government news site, very early in the thread. Maybe dr google doesn't search Australian sites. It pretty much confirmed the original news. 

 

Just re-read the article. Not exactly. Close enough to give deniability to Sputnik. But the PM is precise up to a point, and that point didn't include a declaration of closure for the year as I read it.

 

Don't know why US Google didn't pick up the ABC story. Spent a lot of time working with Aussies in the public health space. Lot of respect for them. Thanks for the reminder!

[NJ Cruiserman]

20 minutes ago, Pushka said:

I posted a link from ABC which is an Australian Government news site, very early in the thread. Maybe dr google doesn't search Australian sites. It pretty much confirmed the original news. 

Actually that article, while informative, is silent about Italy being closed to tourists until the end of the year. 
OTOH my wife and I are enjoying the seven seasons of the Australian series “Offspring” on Netflix during our lockdown. 

[Pushka]

29 minutes ago, NJ Cruiserman said:

Actually that article, while informative, is silent about Italy being closed to tourists until the end of the year. 
OTOH my wife and I are enjoying the seven seasons of the Australian series “Offspring” on Netflix during our lockdown. 

Offspring is a favourite down under too. 
 

Schools reopening is usually the first sign of a return to normality. In our Aussie state they never actually closed. In Australia as a whole, we have had less than 90 deaths, and we have tested vigorously so we know that is the actual figure and not those just in a Public Hospital. I think there is only around 20 people around Australia in hospitals and only a few  in ICU. But our international borders will remain closed for months yet. So I can't get out anyway. 
 

The issue for Europe is the unknown number of deaths and infections in US and UK and likely other places in Europe so opening up borders even within Europe is problematic. Hence I can't see them opening up the border to non EU's for many months yet. 

[NJ Cruiserman]

5 minutes ago, singinalot said:

*adding Offspring to my watch list 

Now watching season 7 episode 6. Have been WFH since March 10. Will need a new series tomorrow or Thursday.  We had already watched “A Place to Call Home” over the summer. 

[jagoffee]

On 4/26/2020 at 4:50 PM, yorky said:

Vaccine trials have started over here but even if they find one which they seem confident they will the licensing will take a prolonged period of time. To be fair they are stating they have made progress in a matter of weeks that normally takes years. The educated consensus from those in the know still think it’s going to be into next year before mass vaccination.

Here is some alarming “fact”

 

• No vaccine has ever been approved for use against previous forms of coronavirus.

Edited April 29, 2020 by jagoffee

[markeb]

7 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

Here is some alarming “fact”

 

• No vaccine has ever been approved for use against previous forms of coronavirus.

I’ll try to find sources in the morning. There were some very promising SARs and MERs candidates. Some of those are the backbones for the SARS-CoV-2 candidates and the reason they’ve been in trials this soon. But those both went away, and there was no private incentive to finish the work, and no transmission to test them against. And no government or NGO financial support. 
 

Yes, that’s a fact, but it’s not that simple. It’s also not easy to do...

[Pushka]

5 hours ago, NJ Cruiserman said:

Now watching season 7 episode 6. Have been WFH since March 10. Will need a new series tomorrow or Thursday.  We had already watched “A Place to Call Home” over the summer. 

Now That was a fantastic production. Did you know the station that originally produced it canned it after 2 series and the outcry from us watchers was so great that Foxtel swooped in and created the next few series. Sad when it was all finished. 

[steamboats]

Seems like even Italian media regards this as a rumor spread by foreign media

 

https://www.iltempo.it/news-adn-kronos/2020/04/28/news/coronavirus-fdi-franceschini-smentisca-chiusura-confini-fino-a-dicembre-1321169/

 

steamboats

[little britain]

OT: If you’re fans of Australian tv series then add Harrow to your lists too @NJ Cruiserman @singinalot

Edited April 29, 2020 by little britain

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, steamboats said:

Seems like even Italian media regards this as a rumor spread by foreign media

 

https://www.iltempo.it/news-adn-kronos/2020/04/28/news/coronavirus-fdi-franceschini-smentisca-chiusura-confini-fino-a-dicembre-1321169/

 

steamboats

But this bit is telling

 

"It is clear that the damage could be irreversible for the economy of our tourism, even if conditions changed in a positive sense. We ask Minister Franceschini to immediately deny the news".

 

This is an article about one media outlet querying the reliability of another media outlet.

[dutchclogs]

2 hours ago, Pushka said:

But this bit is telling

 

"It is clear that the damage could be irreversible for the economy of our tourism, even if conditions changed in a positive sense. We ask Minister Franceschini to immediately deny the news".

 

This is an article about one media outlet querying the reliability of another media outlet.

 

Even better would be an official government announcement. I suspect that the timing of border relaxation is still under discussion though. The official EU press release of tourism meeting last week merely said they would cooperate.

By the way, I loved A Place to Call Home too.

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 4/26/2020 at 12:18 PM, SingBill said:

Confusing. The article says the borders may be closed but museums and attractions may resume in a May   

NOT confusing.  Leaders of Spain and Italy said they will open up in phases, local venues for locals first.  Tourists and hospitality industry last - December maybe.

[Ride-The-Waves]

On 4/26/2020 at 11:32 AM, dutchclogs said:

We still don't know about closure of Italian borders for a fact.  At least I can find no official announcement, as yet. Minister said "The opening of the borders will depend on the epidemiological situation and the policies of each individual state,”  Like poster above we're awaiting an official announcement from the Italian government , preferably sooner than later.

The minister also said that they will open in phases.  First phase being opening local stores and venues for local use.  Last phase, in maybe as early as December, for tourism and hospitality industry (hotels, etc).  Nothing about letting in cruise ships carrying thousands of potential asymptomatic carriers.  That could be phase 5 of the 4 phases...

[NJ Cruiserman]

5 hours ago, little britain said:

OT: If you’re fans of Australian tv series then add Harrow to your lists too @NJ Cruiserman @singinalot

I just checked and Harrow isn’t available in the US, likely as it is relatively new. Offspring is on Netflix and we watched “A Place...” on Acorn but it’s now on Netflix. Unfortunately I think I will be doing more movie watching than traveling in the near future.

[Bo1953]

7 hours ago, steamboats said:

Seems like even Italian media regards this as a rumor spread by foreign media

 

https://www.iltempo.it/news-adn-kronos/2020/04/28/news/coronavirus-fdi-franceschini-smentisca-chiusura-confini-fino-a-dicembre-1321169/

 

steamboats

... including a few who propagated incorrect info here on CC about this....

 

Of course we all have our 'definitive' sources, to be sure, with the exception of the definitive authority who will make the decision.

 

But be that as it may, this may change too, but that does not stop some of us from trying to make the policy in advance of its' official announcement or doing the proper research to be sure that the information we are passing on is in fact accurate. If not accurate, then it is incumbent on each of us who post potentially incorrect info to come back and admit it or apologize.

 

Of course, just in case there are questions or thoughts, this is JMO and thoughts only!

In health and bon voyage

Edited April 29, 2020 by Bo1953

[jagoffee]

10 hours ago, markeb said:

I’ll try to find sources in the morning. There were some very promising SARs and MERs candidates. Some of those are the backbones for the SARS-CoV-2 candidates and the reason they’ve been in trials this soon. But those both went away, and there was no private incentive to finish the work, and no transmission to test them against. And no government or NGO financial support. 
 

Yes, that’s a fact, but it’s not that simple. It’s also not easy to do...

Thank  you for posting.
 

It would be good if the only reason that there has not been an effective vaccine for other COVID virus was because they did not consider it important. (As you mention above). I was surprised to hear that there has never has been one.  Of course that does not mean that there will never be one.  I would be interested in hearing what  you find out. 

I am sure you know.  There are some many different strains of the “regular flu”, and  that the annual flu shot is marginally effective. (Because there are so many different types)   I do not even know how they can reliably estimate how many people get the flu every year.
I get a flu shot every year.  A lot of people get sick every year around me, but I do not know if they really have the flu.  They think that they have it, but are almost never tested.  I might even have it sometimes.
 

The bottom line is that an effective vaccine may not be the Silver Bullet for dealing with the COVID 19.  Locking up the world until a Silver Bullet is available is not practical anyway.  
 

My hope is that treatments can help minimize the impact to people.  

 

 

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by jagoffee

[Fouremco]

25 minutes ago, jagoffee said:

The bottom line is that an effective vaccine may not be the Silver Bullet for dealing with the COVID 19.  Locking up the world until a Silver Bullet is available is not practical anyway.  

I agree, but I don't think that anyone has actually suggested that a vaccine is the sole solution to the pandemic, which is why medical experts continue to explore multiple approaches. I also don't recall any of the experts suggesting that the world be locked down until a vaccine is available, but maybe you are referring to some of the posters on this board?

[markeb]

1 hour ago, jagoffee said:

Thank  you for posting.
 

It would be good if the only reason that there has not been an effective vaccine for other COVID virus was because they did not consider it important. (As you mention above). I was surprised to hear that there has never has been one.  Of course that does not mean that there will never be one.  I would be interested in hearing what  you find out. 

I am sure you know.  There are some many different strains of the “regular flu”, and  that the annual flu shot is marginally effective. (Because there are so many different types)   I do not even know how they can reliably estimate how many people get the flu every year.
I get a flu shot every year.  A lot of people get sick every year around me, but I do not know if they really have the flu.  They think that they have it, but are almost never tested.  I might even have it sometimes.
 

The bottom line is that an effective vaccine may not be the Silver Bullet for dealing with the COVID 19.  Locking up the world until a Silver Bullet is available is not practical anyway.  
 

My hope is that treatments can help minimize the impact to people.  

 

 

 

Not as easy to find this morning as I'd  hoped. There was a lot of traffic from folks in industry on LinkedIn a month ago. Much of it bemoaning the "here we go again" from funding cuts and no market after ramping up on SARS and MERS vaccines. This is the first of the novel human coronaviruses outbreaks to get big enough and last long enough for bigger companies to get involved and not begin the effort expecting an orphan drug...

 

The US government is funding two vaccine candidates for sure at this point. One is from Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, and is based on earlier work for Ebola, although I'm pretty sure the actual vaccine target is derived from work on MERS or SARS. The other is from Modema, and I recall but can't find earlier press releases that they had done significant work on I believe MERS at one point. There's a separate Phase II trial (advanced safety and initial efficacy) in the UK with a different candidate starting up at Oxford as early as this week from press reports. And a few others around the world.

 

It's complicated, and may make little sense if you're not familiar with the industry, but there is a public web page, clinicaltrials.gov, that tracks clinical trials around the world. They've added some built in queries for COVID-19, but it's in clinical trials language. A log of oncologists will refer their patients there to search for trials by their cancer type and condition...

 

The poster child for coronaviruses is actually a disease of cats, where there is now a controversial vaccine. Controversial because the disease itself is an intricate interplay of the virus or viruses, and the cat, and much like what we're seeing with COVID-19, after decades of research, it's hard to say which plays the biggest role.

 

BTW, I need to copy and past this somewhere. Forgot this started in what is pretty much now a debunked thread that may need to go away...

Edited April 29, 2020 by markeb

[cruisequeen4ever]

I’m sorry to get off track, but I have to add that Offspring was soooooo good!! I was so sad when they ended it! 

[Wine-O]

5 hours ago, Ride-The-Waves said:

NOT confusing.  Leaders of Spain and Italy said they will open up in phases, local venues for locals first.  Tourists and hospitality industry last - December maybe.

 

I sure wish they would adopt the Swedish model.  🍷

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, Pushka said:

This is an article about one media outlet querying the reliability of another media outlet.

 

Il Tempo is one of the big print newspapers next to La Repubblica in Italy. And they are querying the reliability of those media outlets in Pakistan, India or Russia. There are quite a few European media outlets quoting from the La Repubblica interview and none of them is talking about a closure of Italy for foreign tourists til the end of the year. If the minister had said this the German newspapers would be full quoting this. Italy is one of the main travel destinations for us Germans (next to Spain, Turkey, Greece or Austria). For me it´s just a 2 hour car trip and I´m in South Tyrol, Italy. Many here in Bavaria were skiing in South Tyrol (or Tyrol in Austria) in February during the Mardi Gras school break. That´s one of the main sources how the virus spread here in Bavaria (and so far we´re the state hit most by the virus).

 

steamboats

[steamboats]

BTW the major of Venice is asking the tourists to return on Twitter!! Months ago he was still complaining about over tourism. The entry fee won´t be in effect until next year he said.

 

I would love to go but Germany just extended the no travel order today til June 14th. So I can´t go unless I want to be quarantined for two weeks when I return.

 

steamboats

[ECCruise]

36 minutes ago, Wine-O said:

 

I sure wish they would adopt the Swedish model.  🍷

You mean like this?