Posted on June 8, 2021
CREDO funding helped Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières respond to the global pandemic
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organization that provides emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from health care, regardless of race, religion, gender or political affiliation.
Thanks to CREDO members who enabled us to donate $52,665 to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières in 2020, the organization was able to care for more than 10 million people caught in some of the world’s worst emergencies, and CREDO support made MSF’s rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic possible.
Because of the support in part from CREDO and our members in 2020, MSF teams were able to quickly adapt to a world with COVID-19 and prepared its 400+ programs for this global threat — implementing infection prevention measures, reorganizing patient flow in hospitals, and training health care and nursing home staff. As the pandemic spread, MSF rapidly scaled up COVID-19 treatment capacity and focused on some of the hardest-hit areas, many in locations where it had never worked before.
At the same time, MSF teams continued to treat children suffering from malnutrition, war wounded and burn victims, and people with malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and other diseases. While caring for patients, MSF continued its innovative efforts to stem the spread of antibiotic resistance and responded to other emergencies, including mass displacements in Syria and outbreaks of Ebola and measles.
MSF vaccinates 2,000 children who due to the terrible living conditions, including the lack of basic sanitation, severe overcrowding, and extremely limited access to healthcare, coupled with the forthcoming winter, are extremely vulnerable to illness. Photo © Anna Pantelia/MSF
Below are a few examples of successful medical humanitarian responses MSF conducted this past year thanks to CREDO’s support:
Launching Dedicated COVID-19 programs
From Yemen and Iraq to Ivory Coast and South Africa, from Cambodia and Malaysia to Haiti and Brazil, MSF opened dedicated COVID-19 medical projects in hard-hit countries, strengthened infection prevention and control (IPC) across their programs to protect staff and patients alike, and prepared for this global threat to health systems.
Sustaining Essential Medical Care Amid a Global Pandemic
In many of the places where MSF works—where health systems are already fragile and people live in precarious conditions—keeping essential health services available and accessible is vital to prevent losing more lives, whether from measles, malaria, malnutrition, or complicated pregnancies. Since the beginning of the pandemic, MSF has sought to keep essential medical services up and running for the millions of patients who rely on MSF while also preparing for and responding to the threat of the virus itself.
Ensuring Vaccinations for Deadly Diseases
In many parts of the world, parents already struggle to protect their children from vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and whooping cough, which claim hundreds of thousands of young lives each year. The COVID-19 pandemic is putting vaccination programs all over the world at serious risk, and the repercussions on the youngest lives could be devastating.
Last spring, as a massive measles epidemic continued to grip the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), MSF Emergency Response Teams vaccinated 260,000 children during one of their first campaigns since the COVID-19 pandemic began. In September, MSF also vaccinated 50,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 14 years in Timbuktu, Mali, where several cases had been reported.
Safeguarding Reproductive Health Care for Women and Girls
Reproductive health care is essential to preventing maternal and neonatal mortality, but the health needs of women and girls are often neglected in the midst of an emergency—and COVID-19 is no exception. All over the world, MSF teams are seeing women and girls cut off from the health services they need due to closures of health facilities, cuts in services, and supply shortages. The impact is especially severe in places with weak or overburdened health systems.
MSF has therefore adapted its programs to ensure continued access to vital care for women and girls, for instance by using telehealth for prenatal and postnatal care in Arauca, Colombia and for counseling for sexual violence victims in Rustenburg, South Africa. At a MSF project serving refugees on the island of Samos, Greece, camp residents with medical backgrounds have been trained to identify individuals with health needs and use telehealth to connect those patients with the MSF team for care.
To learn more and get involved with MSF’s life-saving medical humanitarian work, please visit www.doctorswithoutborders.org or follow the organization on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
Posted on June 7, 2021
Freedom For All Americans fighting for Equality
Did you know that across America, 13 million LGBTQ people are vulnerable to discrimination in their everyday lives? It’s true—we hear these stories of discrimination every day:
- In Michigan, a pediatrician refused to see Krista and Jami’s 6-day-old baby for her first checkup, because her parents are a same-sex couple.
- In Indiana, U.S. Army veteran Jessica couldn’t get her military records changed to reflect her gender and new name, even though she was a member of the first group of soldiers to be deployed during the Iraq War.
- In Texas, an H&R block agent said he couldn’t do Kim and Debbie’s taxes “in good conscience” because they’re a married couple.
- In Ohio, Théo thought he had found the perfect apartment. But when the landlord learned Théo is transgender, he forced him out—and as a result, Théo had to drop out of school and move in with his parents.
- In Arizona, Jim and Bob were harassed at their retirement community simply because they’re a married couple. The harassment got so bad they concluded the community wasn’t safe, and had to move—a huge financial burden.
- And in Montana, a landlord told Kathleen that they wouldn’t “rent to your kind” when Kathleen mentioned her fiancée Casey and their son.
In 29 states—including all the states above—there are no laws that explicitly protect LGBTQ people from being discriminated against at work, when looking for a place to live, or when trying to access public spaces and services. This patchwork of protections leaves too many people behind.
There is a solution: The Equality Act. The Equality Act would update federal law to ensure explicit nondiscrimination protections in key areas of life, including employment, housing, education, and public spaces—like restaurants and shops—for all LGBTQ people, no matter what zip code they call home.
Freedom for All Americans is the bipartisan campaign to win these nondiscrimination protections nationwide, with our ultimate goal being to secure federal statutory protections like the Equality Act.
Our work brings together Republicans and Democrats, businesses large and small, people of faith, and allies from all walks of life to make the case for comprehensive nondiscrimination protections that ensure everyone is treated fairly and equally.
America is clearly ready for this legislation. The House vote was a bipartisan 224-206, and a recent survey by the nonpartisan Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) found that 76 percent of Americans support LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections, including 62 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of independents and 85 percent of Democrats.
The Equality Act has also been endorsed by a broad coalition that includes more than 300 businesses, 50 trade and professional associations, and 500 advocacy organizations. And thousands of American faith leaders of all denominations have urged Congress to pass these protections as well. The same PRRI survey shows majorities of all major American religious denominations support LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination protections.
Funding from CREDO will help FFAA run highly individualized education and lobbying campaigns targeting conservative senators in 11 states, to provide both personal and public pressure and achieve the 60 Senate votes needed to pass the Equality Act.
Vote now for Freedom for All Americans to receive crucial fundraising support from CREDO.
Posted on June 7, 2021
To Protect Our Rainforests, Protect Rainforest Dwellers
If you destroy an ecosystem, you destroy the people who live there. But too often, the plight of indigenous peoples is ignored by conservationists. As indigenous leader Gregorio Díaz Mirabal recently told the New York Times, “If you’re going to save only the insects and the animals and not the indigenous people, there’s a big contradiction… we’re one ecosystem.”
Rainforest Foundation US works with indigenous groups throughout the Americas to protect the tropical forests they depend upon. Our organization is guided not just by humanitarian values, but also by the evidence, which shows that indigenous communities conserve their forest territories more successfully and cost-effectively than other protective entities—including national parks.
But indigenous territories are vast, and are under attack from powerful black-market forces: narcotics cultivators, gold miners, and loggers, amongst others. Indigenous peoples shouldn’t have to defend this territory on their own.
In Peru, we’ve trained indigenous peoples to fight deforestation via a mix of technologies, including drones, smartphones, and satellites. The system we’ve deployed (known locally as “community monitoring”) is scalable, cost-effective, and illustrates what we’ve always believed: That indigenous peoples are capable of using sophisticated technology to play a leading role in the fight against deforestation.
We conducted a study over the past two years that proves this approach works. In the Peruvian Amazon, we divided dozens of indigenous communities into two groups: a “treatment” group, and a “control” group. The treatment group was trained in (and implemented) the technologies. The control group was not. Two years later, the data are clear: using smartphones and satellites, indigenous communities drastically reduced the destruction of their lands.
Tropical rainforests are integral to blunting the effects of climate change—they trap approximately half of all human-made emissions. And these forests are disappearing at an astonishing rate. In 2020, the world lost more than 10.4 million acres of tropical rainforest—an area the size of the Netherlands. And when a tropical rainforest tree is felled, we pay the price twice. First, because cutting down a tree means one less tree capturing carbon and creating oxygen; the world’s green lungs are diminished. Second, because the burning of a felled tree releases carbon into the atmosphere; instead of fresh air, we get smoke.
Our trajectory is unsustainable. On the course we’re on, climate change will pose an existential threat to humanity in our lifetimes.
Protecting the land rights of indigenous peoples is a key part of the solution. Around the world, more than 1.8 million square miles of rainforest fall under government-recognized indigenous territories—an area the size of India and Greenland combined. Indigenous people have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to live in harmony with the natural world. If we’re going to win the war against climate change, we need to protect the people who protect the land.
Rainforest Foundation US is on the front lines of that struggle. And in the last year alone, we’ve made so much progress.
In Guyana, we recently completed an indigenous land tenure assessment with our partner, the Amerindian Peoples Association. That project maps historic indigenous land holdings across the nation, down to the acre: an unprecedented project that will serve as a valuable tool for indigenous rights attorneys and public advocacy groups as they petition their government in the near future.
In Brazil, we’re working with partners to scale up a reforestation program in the northern state of Roraima, where we’re also working to combat the deleterious effects of gold mining, which has wrought violence and pollution on indigenous communities like the Yanomami.
And in Panama, we helped create an online map that tracks COVID cases and shows resource scarcity amongst 48 indigenous territories so that humanitarian organizations like the United Nations are better able to allocate their resources and efforts. That’s proven especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has simultaneously heightened demand and complicated outreach.
To learn more about Rainforest Foundation US, please visit our website at https://rainforestfoundation.org/. Together, we can bring about a world that is healthier and more compassionate. We hope you’ll consider joining us in our mission: to help future generations. To help distant neighbors. To help each other. Our forests are the lungs of this planet. When selfish, we choke. Together we breathe.
Posted on June 7, 2021
World Refugee Day – Celebrating the Courage of Refugees Through Art
This upcoming June 20th marks World Refugee Day, a moment to recognize the strength, courage, and resilience of refugees, asylum seekers, and all displaced people whose lives have been uprooted by crisis.
From the conflict zones of Syria, to the threat of famine in Yemen, to Central American families seeking safety at the US border, there are now more than 80 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes. Unfortunately, these record-breaking statistics come at a time when the most vulnerable communities face a double emergency: conflict and displacement itself, alongside COVID-19 and the long-term economic crisis it has triggered.
Now, as much of our world is beginning to return to normalcy and as vaccines continue to be administered around the globe, the international community must work together to ensure refugees are not left behind.
At the International Rescue Committee, we have teams in over 40 countries and over 20 US cities, providing immediate relief to refugees at the onset of a crisis, and helping them rebuild their lives once they have settled into their new communities. While it is critical to recognize the ongoing struggles and obstacles facing refugees, World Refugee Day is also a time to celebrate their resilience and contributions, and how accepting displaced people into our communities makes the world a better place.
For 2021, we are continuing to put the spotlight on refugee heroes and recognize how courage and creativity in the displaced experience have intersected to forge a way forward. This year’s campaign will put a specific emphasis on the unique contributions of refugee artists, who are providing hope, inspiration, passion, and belonging.
Throughout the pandemic, art has played an important role in so many of our lives. During times of crisis, art especially has the power to move, inspire, and unite, and to help us feel more connected and less alone during this unprecedented moment in history. Across the IRC’s digital media channels and live activations, refugee artists – including painters, dancers, musicians, and more – will “take over” the internet in a celebration of courage and creativity.
With so much inspirational content being celebrated, there are many ways to participate in the IRC’s campaign and to use your own platform to show that you stand with refugees:
- Share Refugee Art: Take part in the IRC’s digital campaign and share content from our social media channels. We will have an original illustration created by a refugee artist for supporters to share far and wide on their social media feeds. The illustration will be complemented by our marquee artist videos, adding up to a “takeover” of the internet with refugee art.
- Attend our Virtual Summit on Refugee Resettlement in the US: The IRC is bringing together refugee voices, policymakers, and experts to discuss how the US can improve its refugee integration processes and provide stronger education and economic conditions for refugees. Be sure to register for part or all of the event here.
- Learn more at rescue.org for more ways to support the IRC.
Posted on June 7, 2021
Park equity must be focus of COVID-19 recovery
As restaurants, movie theaters, and gyms closed their doors over the past year, local park use increased. It’s easy to understand why. Parks, trails, and open space provided locked-down and stressed-out families with rare opportunities to exercise, get some fresh air, and connect with nature. As the pandemic dragged on, Americans also used parks creatively to help with COVID-19 response, distributing masks, providing COVID testing, most recently, providing vaccinations. 
However, a new discovery about parks made by the Trust for Public Land and reported in our nonprofit’s annual ParkScore® index found that park space is not distributed equitably. Across all cities evaluated by the ParkScore index, residents in neighborhoods where most people identify as people of color have access to 44 percent less park space per person than residents in neighborhoods that are predominantly white. Residents in low-income neighborhoods have access to 42 percent less park space than residents in high-income neighborhoods.
It isn’t right, and it isn’t fair.
Every month CREDO Mobile gives to progressive causes. This month we need you to use your outside voice for The Trust for Public Land! Your vote can help create parks, playgrounds, trails, and protect natural spaces. With one click you can help ensure that all people have access to the health benefits and climate solutions that nature provides.
The 2021 ParkScore index quantified park inequity for the first time, but the inequities themselves have existed for decades, caused by dozens of policy decisions, including redlining, discriminatory zoning, and much more. That’s why we’re working with on-the-ground community members and park advocates to make a more equitable park system as part of the pandemic recovery.
We can emerge from this terrible year a fairer, stronger, and more equitable place. The Trust for Public Land is working hard to promote park equity, but we need your help. Please vote for us today. 
Posted on June 3, 2021
9 ways to reduce your mobile data usage and save money
Over the last year, we’ve been using the Internet more than ever before. In fact, at-home data usage surged during the pandemic as many people transitioned to remote work and learning and spent more time streaming entertainment from home.
Now as life starts returning to normal — and we’re home less often — we could see large spikes in our cellular data usage since our mobile devices will no longer be tethered to our home WiFi networks.
All this cellular data usage may come with unexpected overages and bills, too. Here are some easy-to-follow tips to help you find ways to conserve your data and save some money at the same time.
Connect to WiFi whenever possible
Over the last year, you most likely were connected to your home WiFi network when using your mobile device, which reduced the amount of cellular data you used. Unfortunately, we’ve seen situations where customers thought they were connected to their home WiFi network while watching Netflix, but unfortunately, they were using cellular data and eating up monthly usage. For reference, streaming HD quality video can use anywhere between 1GB to 3GB per hour.
As you venture into the world, you will have opportunities to connect to other WiFi networks to help reduce your cellular data consumption. Here are some quick tips:
- To connect to a WiFi, make sure your WiFi settings are turned on, and you are connected to an available WiFi network. Here’s how to connect to WiFi for iOS and Android.
- If you’re working in an office or other workplace, check with your employer to see if you can connect your device to your employer’s network securely over WiFi during the work day.
- When visiting friends and family, ask to connect to their WiFi network if possible.
Be wary of public WiFi networks
As always, be careful of public WiFi networks, like at coffee shops, shopping areas, or airports, as you may put your personal information at risk. Many times these networks are not secure and other users may be able to see your internet traffic, including your personal information, logins and passwords.
If you are going to use a public WiFi network to reduce your cellular data usage, make sure you are connecting to secure networks and connecting to secure websites and apps. Consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app to encrypt your internet activity (here’s our tip on how to get a VPN for your phone). And make sure not to access personal or financial information on public WiFi.
Here are some more tips from the Federal Trade Commission on how to use public WiFi networks safely.
Turn off Wi-Fi Assist or Smart Network Switch
WiFi Assist (iOS) and Smart Network Switch (some Android models) are built-in settings that try to boost a spotty or slow WiFi connection by using your cellular connection. But, these settings can also use a lot of data, too.
- To turn this setting on or off on your Apple device, go to Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data. Then scroll down and tap the slider for Wi-Fi Assist.
- On your Android device, go to Settings > Connections > Wi-Fi. Tap the three dots, select Advanced, and tap the slider for “Switch to mobile data.”
Turn off cellular data for specific apps
Some apps are data hogs, and you might not know which ones are eating up your monthly cellular data until it’s too late. Thankfully, you have some control to limit which specific apps can be used on a cellular network for both Apple and Android devices.
- On your Apple device, go to Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data. Scroll down to see which apps are using cellular data and toggle them on or off. You will also be able to view which apps are using the most data and consider limiting their use only to when you’re on a WiFi network.
- For Android devices, the process may vary depending on the device model. Open the Settings app > Wireless & networks > Data usage > Network access > Selectively uncheck which apps you would like to prevent from using cellular data.
Limit monthly data usage (Android)
Keeping an eye on your monthly data usage will really go a long way to prevent unexpected overages.
Android makes it very easy to limit your monthly data usage with a built-in feature allowing you to set up a warning when you’re reaching your data limit — or by actually limiting your cellular data to a set amount based on your billing cycle. Here’s how to set that up (note: these instructions may vary depending on your device):
- Go to Settings > Network & internet > Data usage > Data warning & limit (or Data limit & billing cycle) to set your maximum amount of data you want to use for the month. Or, tap “App data usage cycle” to set the first day of your billing cycle.
Watch your monthly data (iOS)
Apple devices don’t include the same built-in feature to physically restrict your data usage, so you’ll need to keep an eye on your data use in your device’s settings.
- To see how much cellular data you’ve used, go to Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data. (On an iPad, it may be Settings > Cellular Data)
- You can also reset your data usage for the “Current Period” here every month so you know how much you’re using each billing cycle.
- Alternatively, you can log into your CREDO account periodically to keep an eye on your data usage, too!
Update apps over WiFi only
If you have your apps set to update automatically, they may be draining your data over a cellular network. You can set your device to update apps over WiFi only to save your monthly data.
- On iOS, go to Settings > App Store > scroll to “Cellular Data” and toggle “Automatic Downloads” to the off position.
- On Android, go to the Play Store and tap Menu > Settings > Auto-update apps, then select “Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.”
Disable app data in the background
Some of your apps will continue to gather data in the background while you’re not using your phone. This is a great feature for, say, a news app to give you the freshest information the next time you load the app, but not every app needs this feature.
- To turn this feature off for your apps on iOS, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Here, you can choose whether you want this feature on or off completely, or just WiFi only. You can also toggle this on and off for individual apps.
- On Android, go to Settings > Data Usage to see which apps are using the most data. Tap on the app you’d like to restrict and disable background data.
Upgrade your data plan
If all else fails, you have the option to upgrade to a plan with a higher monthly data limit. In the end, it may be one of the best options if you need more cellular data than your current plan allows.
Learn more about all the plans we offer and find the right one for your data needs.
Posted on June 2, 2021
Vote for Freedom For All Americans, Rainforest Foundation US and Trust for Public Land this June
Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute a monthly donation to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This June, you can support LGBTQ rights, climate justice and public land conservation by voting to fund Freedom For All Americans, Rainforest Foundation US and Trust for Public Land.
Freedom For All Americans
Freedom for All Americans is the bipartisan campaign to secure full nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people nationwide. The organization is closer than ever to getting this done, by passing the Equality Act, legislation Congress is considering right now.
Funding from CREDO will help FFAA run highly individualized education and lobbying campaigns targeting conservative senators in 11 states, to provide both personal and public pressure and achieve the 60 senate votes needed to pass the Equality Act.
Rainforest Foundation US
Rainforest Foundation supports indigenous peoples of the world’s rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights. Global tropical forests are absolutely vital to combating the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
Your support helps ensure that tropical forests can keep capturing and storing carbon, while also producing fresh air and clean water for generations to come.
The Trust for Public Land
Access to nature is a fundamental human right. Yet, 1 in 3 Americans don’t have a park close to home—including 28 million kids. Trust for Public Land is changing that by collaborating with communities to create parks, playgrounds, trails, and protect natural spaces.
Trust for Public Land is leading a movement to put a park within a 10-minute walk of every American. With your support, TPL partners with historically marginalized communities to protect and develop new outdoor spaces so that all people have access to the health benefits and climate solutions that nature provides.
Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donation among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by June 30.
CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and CREDO Energy and join our movement.
Posted on June 1, 2021
Our May grantees thank you for your support
Each month, CREDO members vote on how we distribute funding to three incredible nonprofits. Those small actions add up – with one click, you can help fund groups working for gun violence prevention, food and climate justice and promoting the “people’s history” in education. In May, CREDO members voted to distribute our monthly donation to Brady: United Against Gun Violence, Slow Food USA and Zinn Education Project.
These donations are made possible by CREDO customers and the revenue they generate by using our services. The distribution depends entirely on the votes of CREDO members like you. And for that, our May grant recipients thank you.
Brady: United Against Gun Violence
$57,355
“CREDO is an incredible partner in helping build a movement to take real action, not sides, in the fight to end America’s gun violence epidemic.” – Kris Brown, President, Brady
To learn more, visit BradyUnited.org.
Slow Food USA
$40,965
“Thank you! With CREDO’s support, we center FOOD as a delicious solution to climate justice. As a network of over 115 chapters and 5000 members in the US, we are mobilizing a dynamic network to push for radical change in our food systems.” – Anna Mulé, Executive Director, Slow Food USA
To learn more, visit slowfoodusa.org.
Zinn Education Project
$51,679
“Thanks to CREDO members’ support, we will offer educators more free people’s history lessons to “teach outside the textbook.” Over 128,000 teachers access our lessons and hundreds have joined our Teaching for Black Lives study groups.” – Jesse Hagopian, Zinn Education Project “Teach the Black Freedom Struggle” campaign leader
To learn more, visit zinnedproject.org.
Now check out the three groups we are funding in June, and cast your vote to help distribute our donations.
CREDO members who use our products are the reason why we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile, the carrier with a conscience.
Posted on June 1, 2021
CREDO supports LGBTQ rights all year — not just during Pride Month
Here at CREDO, we don’t change our logo each June during Pride Month. That’s because we don’t need to.
While most corporate brands rainbow-stripe their logos for a month-long marketing campaign and issue statements to prove their LGBTQ cred, CREDO supports our allies in the LGBTQ community all year long.
In fact, since our founding in 1985, our customers have helped us donate more than $14 million to groups like the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Transgender Law Center, the ACLU, Freedom For All Americans (a June 2021 grantee) and dozens of other groups fighting for equality and civil rights.
Standing with the LGBTQ community is a core part of our company’s mission, and we are working every day to create a country and a world where everyone is free to be who they are. Our LGBTQ friends and family need allies all year-long — not just in June — and we’re proud to support them 365 days a year.
If brands want to support the LGBTQ community, they should do so authentically and all year-round, starting with the understanding that Pride Month was founded on resistance, and it isn’t a once-a-year party that corporate America can crash.
And companies who claim to support LGBTQ rights – not just the rainbow logos and cash that follows – should stop donating to the Republican party and lawmakers who are relentless in their attacks on LGBTQ equality.
For example, while telecom giant AT&T swaps out its logo for rainbows and sells Pride-themed merchandise on its website, it was reported in 2019 that the company had quietly donated at least $2.7 million to 193 anti-LGBTQ politicians — not to mention its habitual funding of the Republican party and other right-wing causes who stand in direct opposition to equality and LGBTQ rights.
As right-wing conservatives across the country continue their campaign to strip away the rights of LGBTQ people, especially among the trans community, the LGBTQ community needs allies all year, not just in June. We hope other brands follow our lead.
If you’d like to vote for Freedom For All Americans to receive a portion of this month’s donation, please visit CREDODonations.com.
Posted on May 27, 2021
6 tips for a safe and healthy travel season
Memorial Day weekend is upon us, and that usually means summer travel is just around the corner. This year, as more people steadily become vaccinated, pandemic protocols loosened and cabin fever has worn out its welcome, more than two-thirds of Americans are planning to travel this year.
Even though things aren’t quite back to normal yet, you can still have an enjoyable vacation while being safe. Public health officials recommend taking precautions before you travel since the vaccines are not 100% effective and variants continue to circulate, so now’s the time to plan before that vacation to ensure you and your loved ones stay healthy.
If you’re thinking about taking that long-deserved trip this summer, here are some tips to stay safe while having fun.
Get a vaccine (if you can)
As of this post, roughly 40% of the U.S. population has been fully vaccinated, so our country still has a long way to go before the pandemic is over. The CDC recommends that you delay travel until you are fully vaccinated. If you are unable to get vaccinated and you must travel, the CDC has recommendations for steps you should take to protect yourself and others, like continuing to wear masks, social distance, and getting tested. Depending on your destination, you may be required to have proof of a negative COVID test. If you’re not vaccinated and would like to receive one, visit vaccines.gov to find an appointment near you.
And make sure you can prove it
When it comes to proving your vaccination status, it’s probably best to err on the safe side and have proof with you while you travel. If you’re traveling internationally, some countries may require proof of vaccination or a “vaccine passport,” a digital app that proves your status and could exempt you from lengthy quarantines or testing requirements. New York City already has a vaccine passport that will help businesses keep their customers and staff safe. Likewise, some large venues may also require proof of vaccination. Here’s more about vaccine passport apps from The Points Guy.
In the United States, your proof of vaccination is the COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card, the paper card you would have received after your shot. Make sure you take a photo of your vaccine card on your phone, but don’t laminate it. Visit the websites of your airline, hotel and other businesses to double-check their requirements for proof of vaccination or negative test results.
Don’t forget your mask
Even if you’re vaccinated, it’s not quite time to retire that mask just yet. Mask-wearing is still required on public transportation, including planes, buses, trains and subways, and many venues, businesses and municipalities may require them. It’s also a thoughtful gesture to those who aren’t able to get vaccinated, and wearing a mask can put others at ease. Just try to ignore the anti-maskers.
Find a mask that you feel comfortable in for extended periods of time, especially if you are flying long distances, and bring multiple masks that work for you.
Keep your hand sanitizer handy
When you’re traveling, you’re also bound to touch a lot of contaminated surfaces, like elevator buttons, pens and handrails, so keep your hand sanitizer close since it may not be available everywhere you go to prevent spreading any virus.
While you’re at it, check out our recent tip on how to disinfect your phone.
Watch out for online travel scams
While you may be primarily concerned about protecting your health this travel season, be sure to protect your wallet and bank account too. According to consumer advocacy organizations, travel scams are on the rise this year as people begin looking to save money.
As you search online for flights and hotels, be wary of rock-bottom prices (those pandemic deals are over). Scammers are out there looking for people who are searching for terms like “best airfare deals” and directing unsuspecting users to fake airline ticketing sites or fraudulent customer service numbers.
The Better Business Bureau suggests avoiding overly broad searches like “great deals on travel” and only book through reputable companies, not shady third-party sites. Don’t click links in your email or pop-ups offering “free” anything, and watch out for telemarketing calls or texts offering deals on travel.
Check out our recent tip on how to protect yourself from online scammers.
Consider a local day trip
Traveling locally may be your best bet if you want to stay safe this travel season. Find a nearby hike with few people, a bike trip with friends, or an outdoor food festival, concert or movie with social distancing. It may not be the big, post-pandemic vacation you’ve been hoping for, but it’s one step closer to normalcy. The upside? You’ll be reducing your carbon footprint this summer, as a short drive or riding public transportation emits far less carbon than that long international flight.
