Italy: Covid and terrorists?

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/traveladvisories/traveladvisories/italy-travel-advisory.html

Warning.

Reconsider travel to Italy due to COVID-19. Exercise increased caution due to terrorism.

Read the Department of State’s COVID-19 page before you plan any international travel.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Italy due to COVID-19, indicating a high level of COVID-19 in the country. There are restrictions in place affecting U.S. citizen entry into Italy. Your risk of contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms may be lower if you are fully vaccinated with an FDA authorized vaccine. Before planning any international travel, please review the CDC’s specific recommendations for fully vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers.

Visit the Embassy’s COVID-19 page for more information on COVID-19 and related restrictions and conditions in Italy.

Country Summary: Italy has a longstanding risk presented by terrorist groups, who continue plotting possible attacks in Italy. Terrorists may attack with little or no warning, targeting tourist locations, transportation hubs, markets/shopping malls, local government facilities, hotels, clubs, restaurants, places of worship, parks, major sporting and cultural events, educational institutions, airports, and other public areas.

Read the country information page.

If you decide to travel to Italy:

See the U.S. Embassy’s web page regarding COVID-19.
Visit the CDC’s webpage on Travel and COVID-19.
Be aware of your surroundings when traveling to tourist locations and crowded public venues.
Follow the instructions of local authorities.
Monitor local media for breaking events and adjust your plans based on new information.
Enroll in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive Alerts and make it easier to locate you in an emergency.
Follow the Department of State on Facebook and Twitter.
Review the Crime and Safety Reports for Italy.
Prepare a contingency plan for emergency situations. Review the Traveler’s Checklist.

The advisory is from June, I think we all know a lot more now about what’s going on with the Delta variant.

Many winemakers I know have just received their first doses of vaccine in the last few weeks. They were definitely behind over there.

Current info:

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They’re actually ahead of us for vaccinations. 55.8% fully vaccinated and 65% with at least one shot.

While they are going through an upturn they are well below their highs in Nov 20 and March 21. Florida where we live is far far worse at least with cases.

The terrorist warning is interesting. Does anyone know if that’s new ?

Dupe

Why are we picking on Italy? France and Spain are worse both in terms of Covid and Terrorist attack history.

In fact, Spain and France are level 4 - DO NOT TRAVEL.

Italy is only level 3 - Reconsider travel.

Sort of seals the deal on my travel to France in 3 weeks - while I was reconsidering, it went to level 4.

Germany is looking relatively good.

Compared to US gun crime the relative risk of religious influenced terrorism is much smaller, with 2018 at 13 deaths and 2019 at 10 deaths across the whole of the EU (source Europol). 2015 was the highest in recent years at 150 across the whole of the EU.

That’s not to say there is no risk, but some context might help give it perspective.

As for Covid, plenty of information available online from reliable sources, so informed decisions can be made

Personally I’m not travelling this year. A little more Covid risk than I’d wish for, plus associated hassle that would very much detract from the experience.

That’s a light weekend in Chicago [wink.gif]

The terrorist threat is universal. People who want to inflict harm only need a knife or a van to kill a few people.

On the other hand if you want to kill lots really quickly you need some firepower and frankly that is less available in Europe than in some other parts of the world I can think of.

I’m in Tuscany as I type this. Spent some time drinking wine, visiting some towns (Montalcino, Siena, etc), some really nice hikes. It’s a little hot this week (104 degrees the high!) but the people are fantastic and the wine is delicious.

Happy to take both the Covid and Terrorist risk…

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I wish Alan would chime in, I don’t really understand the point or purpose of this post. My friends are currently in the Cilento having a great time and their first tour group arrives Sunday.