The US Now Requiring Negative COVID-19 Test for Air Travelers from the UK

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that effective December 28, 2020, American and foreign national air passengers arriving from the United Kingdom to the United States must test negative for coronavirus via the PCR or antigen test no more than seventy-two hours before departure from the UK to the US. The CDC notes that this order comes after UK public health authorities announced the discovery of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 which may be up to seventy percent more transmissible than previously circulating variants. Numerous countries have announced new restrictions on UK travelers due to this new variant.

The CDC notes that this “additional testing requirement will fortify our protection of the American public to improve their health and safety and ensure responsible international travel.” In a statement, CDC explains: "Passengers are required to get a viral test (i.e., a test for current infection) within the 3 days before their flight from the U.K. to the U.S. departs, and provide written documentation of their laboratory test result (in hard copy or electronic) to the airline. Airlines must confirm the negative test result for all passengers before they board. If a passenger chooses not to take a test, the airline must deny boarding to the passenger."

See You Next Year!

As 2020 thankfully draws to a close, we were able to get out of the apartment and see this lovely tree at Fort Greene Park. While it’s not quite as large and magnificent as the tree at Rockefeller Center, this tree is doing its best, just like all of us. Bye, 2020. Hello, 2021.

Scenes from a Snowstorm 2020

What else did 2020 need? How about a major snowstorm? Yes, please. This week a powerful nor'easter hit New York City and the northeast with heavy snow and high winds. With at least ten inches recorded in Central Park, it was the biggest December snowstorm in New York City in ten years since a blizzard in 2010 dumped twenty inches. We made our way (carefully) around New York City amid the snowstorm and were able to enjoy a few peaceful moments of freshly fallen snow before it turns to dirty slush. Oh yes, don’t forget to wear a mask!

Point of Action

Point of Action by Studio Cooke John invites residents and visitors alike “to contemplate the experience of seeing one another—and being seen.” The installation consists of six-foot circles affixed onto the Flatiron Public Plazas that create nine “spotlights,” each with its own vertical metal lighted frame. Lights embedded on each metal structure illuminate and frame the viewer who can step into the spotlight and connect with viewers across the plazas. “We are at a threshold during this pandemic,” Nina Cooke John, Founder and Principal of Studio Cooke John, says. “Now that our eyes have been opened to realities that have been with us all along, how do we move forward? My hope is that Point of Action makes people think about how we connect to the people we see every day so that we can move forward together.” Point of Action is on view through January 1, 2021 in the Flatiron Public Plazas on Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 23rd Street in Manhattan.

Groundswell at Houston Bowery Wall

Ecuadorian artist Raúl Ayala collaborated with young student artists on the latest mural featured at the historic Houston Bowery Mall in downtown Manhattan. The mural honors Groundswell, an organization that encourages youth, artists, and community organizations to use art for social change. The mural, featuring surrealistic touches, reflects on the difficult times we are living in amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests against police violence and systemic racism and the global COVID-19 pandemic. Ayala describes the mural as “opening a portal” and is meant to have viewers think about “how we exist in relationship to each other, how we hold and take care of our individual, social, and cultural essence.” He adds: “For me, building imagination and sharing knowledge alongside a younger generation of artists is a great manifestation of the fruits of this shift. With this mural, we are also bringing intergenerational participation into a future that honors our past while actively creating a different path of existence.”

President-Elect Joe Biden & Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris

Last Saturday, major news organizations projected that former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris would win the 2020 presidential election. Their election comes after the Trump administration’s unrelenting attacks against immigrants, refugees, and the US immigration system over the last four years. In the coming days, we will be posting more about what changes to US immigration policy and law we might expect under a Biden/Harris administration. In the meantime, many Americans are celebrating this historic victory. Vice President-Elect Harris, the daughter of two immigrants, will be the first woman, the first African American woman, the first Indian American, and the first Asian American to hold the office of Vice President. In her victory speech last Saturday, Vice President-Elect Harris spoke of her mother: “When she came here from India at the age of 19, maybe she didn’t quite imagine this moment. But she believed so deeply in an America where a moment like this is possible. So, I'm thinking about her and about the generations of women — Black women, Asian, White, Latina, and Native American women throughout our nation's history who have paved the way for this moment tonight.”

This Is Us

As we draw closer to the final tally for the 2020 presidential election and reflect on how our fellow Americans voted, it’s an opportune time to revisit Dr. Eddie Glaude, the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University, speaking about President Donald Trump and racism in the United States. Stay safe, everyone.