Foreigners not allowed in Sorong

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Do you guys really need to tax the health system getting, arguably questionable, health certificates" right now?
Personally, I am cancelling my trip due to the latest developments. I'm just curious what such a certificate would even entail.
 
Do you guys really need to tax the health system getting, arguably questionable, health certificates" right now?
Ideally, no. Practially, inability to get such a certificate and therefore a visa may be the only way to get some coverage from travel insurance as insurance companies will definitely balk at covering... And if both LOB and travel agent are unwilling to rebook for later date or officially cancel the booked trip, the diver is sadly out of luck...
 
Do you guys really need to tax the health system getting, arguably questionable, health certificates" right now?

We are clarifying what the requirements are so that someone who might find this information can use it and find it helpful if they feel the need for it. No one is condoning this given the circumstances, nor is anyone saying now is a good time to run out and get one and go, while possibly dealing with a multitude of scenarios including being stuck and/or quarantined.

Ideally, no. Practially, inability to get such a certificate and therefore a visa may be the only way to get some coverage from travel insurance as insurance companies will definitely balk at covering... And if both LOB and travel agent are unwilling to rebook for later date or officially cancel the booked trip, the diver is sadly out of luck...

Usually, travel insurance (most, if not all) will say passport and visa issues are not covered.
 
Personally, I am cancelling my trip due to the latest developments. I'm just curious what such a certificate would even entail.

Do you guys really need to tax the health system getting, arguably questionable, health certificates" right now?

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We live in Eagle County, Colorado, home to the Vail ski area. Vail Resorts closed all of their North American ski resorts last Saturday, terminating all seasonal employees. Locally, thousands of these employees left the valley. Just like our international visitors brought the virus here, we have now sent seasonal employees far and wide - no doubt many with the virus.

I called my doc's office today - CMM, a part of Vail Health - and asked for a travel appointment, specifically requesting a health clearance certificate.

The tech was taken aback that I have made the inquiry, questioning my judgment at the very least. Fortunately, I know her well and we concluded the call with her discussing the absurdity of traveling to Indonesia in light of the current circumstances.

FYI - our travel was to be DEN-LAX-IST-CGK, 3 days in IST, arrival in SOQ May 4.

The LA Indo consulate? Called for an hour, disconnected on each attempt. Tried embassy in DC, couldn't get out of phone tree.

The Indonesian resorts/boats that seem to think USA clients will be able to obtain a visa would seem to be misinformed.

And the boats and resorts in Raja?

What might we bring with us to their communities?

Dollars over common sense may be the issue.


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Dear patients and community members,

We need to take this seriously, NOW.

In just a week, we’ve gone from 7 to over 50 confirmed COVID-19 (coronavirus) cases. The real number of local cases in the Eagle River Valley is more likely hundreds if not thousands of people. It is everywhere here; we just don’t have the test results to prove it, and we won’t anytime soon.

As we’ve seen in other countries, the way this disease spreads exponentially means it starts slow and then explodes and overwhelms hospitals and the healthcare system. This pattern stalls the healthcare system’s ability to adequately care for the surge of the severely sick and dying. This is what we are seeing in Italy and Spain right now.

The most effective way to shorten the cycle of the COVID-19 virus is to be diligent about practicing social distancing - reducing or eliminating gatherings that actually spread the virus in the community. We’ve seen this work in China and South Korea. The United States and Colorado have followed suit as evidenced by public health orders from Governor Polis and our own Eagle County public health department.
The truth is, if we don’t commit to disciplined social distancing now, our 56-bed Vail Health Hospital will be overflowing within 2-4 weeks. We will not have enough respirators to keep people alive, and locals of all ages will be dying. The other hospitals in America will be full too. We’ve already had a handful of COVID-19 patients transported to Denver for more advanced care; however, once the Denver hospitals are full, we will no longer be able to transport these people to a lower elevation.

As prepared as our hospital, County and public health department have tried to be, it won’t matter if we, as community members, relax on the importance of social distancing. We were one of the first communities in the state and nation to start aggressively testing, with Colorado’s first drive-up testing center open on March 6 in Gypsum. We set up a mobile emergency department trailer outside our hospital to protect patients and staff. We’ve done more tests per capita than any community in America. But the results are trickling in, and an inaccurate picture has been painted. Regardless of the number of confirmed cases, we are experiencing significant community spread; when someone is infected, but we aren’t sure where or how.

We have all been told it takes 24-48 hours to get test results, but it’s taking 3-5 days or more, and it’s getting worse. We have 400 local tests awaiting results, and we expect many of them to be positive. In the meantime, we are sending on average 70 samples for testing per day, and we’ve switched from the state testing center to commercial labs to hopefully speed up our results. We are prioritizing the limited medical resources to test the highest risk patients, healthcare providers, and others that are dedicated to this community response and we are using every channel possible to increase the turn-around time for the tests we do run.

Social norms are incredibly hard to adjust, but saving our Valley means starting now. Psychologically, when things feel safe at home, we feel safe in general. Don’t be fooled. Everything non-essential has to stop or close for now. It also means we have to cancel everything, and that goes against who we are as humans. This means no more dinners with friends, casual kid Nerf gun wars in the neighborhood, or basketball at the park. It’s going to be hard and feel wrong on many levels. But, it’s supposed to be hard because we are fighting a war of life and death right now. Not tomorrow, but now. It’s time to wake up. Sacrifices must be made, or we will lose people we know and love. At this moment, the focus must be on keeping lots of people from dying. Every three days, the number of infected individuals will continue to double unless social isolation is adopted by everyone here.

Thank you to Eagle County, our school district, many businesses and Vail Resorts for rolling out restrictions or closing up shop. As one of the most popular international ski communities in the world, people from all over the globe have been traveling to our Valley for the past three months. Many have brought COVID-19 here or taken it back to their homes. Like generations before us who united as a nation during world conflicts, we must now practice that same collective action and selflessness against an invisible enemy. We are all in this together. Please be part of the solution.
Every person and family in this Valley must start social distancing NOW.

#ProtectOurValley, #DoingMyPartCO

Will Cook
Vail Health President & CEO
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Colorado Mountain Medical | 50 Buck Creek Rd. – Suite 200 Avon, CO 81620 | (970) 926-6340
 
I got nervous about our April 10 trip to Indo several weeks ago. Was being assured by the agent and the op that things were ok "on the ground." Took that advice gracefully with with a huge grain of salt. Decided to pull the plug and rebook for next year, it was a huge relief when that decision was made, and I cannot say that I am happy that we were right
 
I got nervous about our April 10 trip to Indo several weeks ago. Was being assured by the agent and the op that things were ok "on the ground." Took that advice gracefully with with a huge grain of salt. Decided to pull the plug and rebook for next year, it was a huge relief when that decision was made, and I cannot say that I am happy that we were right

Good for you!

Any monetary loss when you pulled the plug?
 
Good for you!

Any monetary loss when you pulled the plug?

Minimal. United miles will get rebooked (not sure if they're charging fees for rebanking miles these days). Resorts deferred with no penalty, just pay any 2021 rate difference. Did have Silk Air domestic airfare of about $400, unless we can re use it probably a loss, as Scoot was taking over the SIN - MAN route in May anyway.

I stressed over this decision for weeks, once we decided to defer a HUGE weight lifted
 
Has anyone gotten cancellation notice yet on their Garuda flight to Sorong? Papua Explorers confirmed some foreigners were not allowed on the plane a few days ago but my flight hasn't been yet
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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