Imelda Norton, who lives in Denton, Texas, hasn’t seen her mother, brothers and their families, who live in the Riau province of Indonesia, since 2016. She was supposed to go in 2020 but that was spiked because of the pandemic. Now it’s unclear when she’ll get another chance. Indonesia’s borders are largely closed, and COVID cases there have surged.
Travel restrictions aim to stop populations from mixing in order to slow the spread of the virus. It’s not a long term solution and ultimately the only fix is global distribution of vaccines, said Wilbur Chen, a professor at the University of Maryland who specializes in vaccines. “I don’t yet see compelling data saying yes, travel restrictions worked, except for maybe a few examples,” such as New Zealand, she said.
“We are not machines, we are humans. We have families,” said Karnatak, who’s required to get a visa stamp at the U.S. consulate in India to reenter the U.S., and that’s not possible right now because consular services remain largely closed. “The travel restrictions are the biggest problem I have in my life.”