As countries around the world attempt to reopen their borders, officials have come up with an ever-changing list of labyrinthine polices to allow travel. A range of entry restrictions have been deployed, from home quarantines for vaccinated adults to spending up to three weeks in government-authorized facilities, with multiple tests along the way. The best strategy isn’t yet clear, but one thing is common: Few are taking into consideration families as a unit.
Acknowledging the difficult balance between the realities of employment and family demands could become one of the most important steps to opening up economies. But until parents have more clarity about how to cross borders with their young children, or the hoops they have to jump through to be with them, there’s little hope of a full recovery.
Quarantines and restrictions on travel have been a necessary evil to control virus transmission. Such considerations are even more critical as the delta variant spreads around the globe. To be clear, this isn’t a case for circumventing any of those precautions. But the wide-ranging recommendations and rules show that, a year and a half into the pandemic, policy makers have given little thoughtful guidance to families when we have far more information at hand.
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