CTAG Travelers Land in Havana

Cuba Tames COVID CTAG’s first travel group from Pittsburgh arrived on January 4, 2021 at Havana’s Jose Marti airport. Renewed Cuba travel was made possible by the country’s fast action to control Covid-19. When the pandemic struck the island in early 2020, a medical response protocol borne of having tamed malaria and dengue fever at home, and Ebola throughout Africa, sprung into action. Martialing thousands of healthcare workers to all parts of the island, Cuba’s Health Ministry has thus far limited COVID fatalities to 155 out of 12,000,000 citizens - roughly 13 per million! and exponentially fewer than anywhere in Latin America and the U.S. https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/.

The country’s “immediate prevention and control plan” triggered highly trained teams of physicians going door-to-door in every municipality to check residents for COVID symptoms, an “all-hands-on-deck” response credited with protecting every community from the virus’s wide spread.

(Known throughout the medical world, Cuba’s health system is taught as a model for developing countries. Martialing the highest number of physicians in the world -roughly 8.4 per 1,000 - the country’s focus on health care has brought the Cuban people an average life expectancy of 79 years, higher than the U.S. and second only to Canada)!

Today, international visitors are required pre-boarding to show evidence of a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of travel. Once in Havana and as they await Cuban re-test results the CTAG group from Pittsburgh enjoyed Havana’s 5***** Melia Habana Hotel with pools, spa, spacious grounds and restaurants as they awaited 48-hour test results. Strict hygiene standards are followed everywhere they’ve traveled in the provinces.

As the island awaits COVID vaccinations beginning next month (February ’21) in Havana, Cuba remains open for business. The warm and engaging Cuban people welcome U.S. travelers back to their island for travel adventures that make a Cuba trip rise to the top of Americans’ lifelong travel memories.

Sources: https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-06-10/Cuba-s-doctors-healthcare-system-in-the-spotlight-after-COVID-19-Rd8oMfaOQ0/index.html (dated June 10, 2020) https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/cuba/ Walter Lippmann, Cuba journalist and reporter Traveler Note: CTAG Cuba trip payments including deposits are fully refundable for cancellations received 30 days ahead of scheduled trip departures until September 15, 2021.