As the COVID-19 pandemic began to spread around the world, international health insurance provider Aetna upheld duty-of-care standards to its employers and members by harnessing all of its available resources to provide continuous access to healthcare, support, and a steady flow of vital information to its employers and members. Members were able to stay informed of any significant travel, safety, or security-related incidents by having access to WorldAware's products and services.

As many domestic restrictions are eased, borders gradually reopening, international entry restrictions eased or lifted, and varying precautions are being taken by airlines and airports to lower the risk of exposure to COVID-19 to travelers, several questions can arise.

A new duty-of-care strategy will be available to SAP partners through the SAP Concur App Center. Companies can expect to begin migrating over to this new interface by the first quarter of 2021. The newer and more robust duty-of-care strategy will have several new features and provide a bigger data set to all participating partners.

While the TSA has implemented new screening rules, passengers are taking their own precautions to reduce their risk of exposure to COVID-19 while standing in long security lines. They're also seeking tips to get through airport security faster for the same reason.

Wear a face mask. Carry disinfectant, spare masks, gloves - and as little luggage as possible.
-Bruce McIndoe

The Washington Post recently spoke with Ed Daly, Editor-in-Chief of WorldAware's Global Intelligence Division, about the E.U. ban against American travelers. As of July 1, the E.U. began to allow international arrivals from certain countries, but the United States was not included on this list. The reason behind the exclusion is due to the US greatly exceeding European countries average of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people. Currently, the US average is 145 cases per 100,000 people, while the E.U.

As the hotel industry navigates returning leisure and business travelers during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel managers are figuring out the amount of business travel that can be conducted. Several travel managers now work closely with COVID-19 planning teams and committees to obtain approval for business travel. A wide variety of scenarios are being projected regarding the amount of business travel that can approved based on current COVID-19 data, subject to change as future data is made available.

Surveys show over half of Americans are planning to travel this summer, with planned road trips up 72% compared to last summer.

"As such, travelers should take extra precautions when preparing and booking trips."
-Bruce McIndoe, WorldAware Founder

As airline travel slowly resumes, travelers are noticing small changes to screening procedures at airports across the US.

There will be fit-to-fly checks - thermal checks, general health checks, and possibly actual virus tests. These will be crude out of the gate, but just like the ramp-up of security checks post-9/11, they will become more sophisticated.
-Bruce McIndoe, WorldAware Founder

As we work our way through business recovery, and organizations navigate the phases of reopening, questions linger about the retail industry and what, if anything, will be different.

Extracting and acting on lessons learned will be vital—not only for retailers to return to profitability but also because we’re not necessarily past the crisis.
-Bruce McIndoe, WorldAware Founder