G'day guys,
Hope all is well. I thought I'd at least start a (hopeful) Chile trip report for my upcoming trips to Nevados de Chillan in August/September. If the admins need to move this somewhere else, no problem. I figured this would also be a useful place to share updates about skiing in Chile and any important updates re: CVOID and current travel restrictions to Chile so that others may benefit. I'll give the caveat that these are just my thoughts/opinions (plus the opinions of my business partner on the ground in Chile) and this information may not be 100% accurate, so take it with a grain of salt, it's not gospel. Please undertake your own research before making any decisions about travel to South America......
I did start a Facebook page for my potential clients so typically I will just copy and paste here, any major updates I have already shared there. I'm happy to hear other people's thoughts and opinions and answer any questions you might have. Here's a couple of updates I shared recently...... The first is from April 22nd.
"Time for another Chile update...... Ironically I had just written a long update to my guides this afternoon, including an overview of what has been happening and then about an hour later, there has more new (positive) news.
Hopefully most of you were aware that Chile had re-opened their international borders (with restrictions) to foreign travelers back on November 23rd. Condition of entry were further updated on January 7th. By this stage you had to have negative PCR tests taken no more than 72 hours before departure and then undertake a few other formalities to enter Chile.
Nevados de Chillan was able to open up again for their summer season and the chairlifts were spinning for mountain biking. There were restrictions of course, as well as reduced capacity for the local hotels and restaurants. At least they were open as opposed to the non-event of their 2020 winter when the resort stayed closed for the whole season. Things were looking a lot more positive finally.
Unfortunately COVID cases start to rise sharply again in March and worryingly hospitals started to reach occupancy. 80% of Chile had to go into lockdown for almost a month, including the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located. The international borders were closed again for 1 month, on April 5th.
This was somewhat of a surprise as Chile had been doing really well with their COVID vaccination program. They moved early to secure their doses (mostly Pfizer and Sinovax Coronavax from China, both 2-shot regimes) and had one of the highest vaccination rates (per 100 people) in the world. Over 40% of all people had received at least 1 does of the vaccine by April.
So what went wrong? Why have infection rates increased again? Well, testing has shown that the Sinovax vaccine has not performed well at all, compared to the Pfizer vaccine. With only 1 dose, the Sinovax vaccine only has a 16% efficacy rate at preventing infection and a 36% success rate at keeping people out of hospital. The infection rate has greatly increased in younger people (below 60) who have lessened the use of masks, social distancing etc with news of the impending vaccination programs. The spread of the more contagious Brazilian variant has added to the increase in infection rates and hospitalizations as well. I think this article describes in more detail what has been happening - https://www.reuters.com/.../chiles-covid-19-vaccine.../.
The good news is that the infection rate has started to come down in the last few days. Today it was announced (thank you for the update Francisco) that the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located, will come out of lockdown on Monday, as will other regions where the infection rates are lower (haven't heard about Santiago yet). The international border was closed on April 5th for one month and is scheduled to re-open on May 5th.
So, overall, good news. The Chilean government is prioritizing people who took the Sinovax vaccine to get their second dose (the Pfizer vaccine has proven to be 80% effective against the virus after only 1 shot) and secure a more diverse range of vaccines. The government is aiming to have 80% of the population (19.5m people total population) fully vaccinated by June, thus allegedly achieving herd immunity. That would be great news for our programs starting in August.
I'll keep the updates coming as I have them. All the best team.
Matt"
Hope all is well. I thought I'd at least start a (hopeful) Chile trip report for my upcoming trips to Nevados de Chillan in August/September. If the admins need to move this somewhere else, no problem. I figured this would also be a useful place to share updates about skiing in Chile and any important updates re: CVOID and current travel restrictions to Chile so that others may benefit. I'll give the caveat that these are just my thoughts/opinions (plus the opinions of my business partner on the ground in Chile) and this information may not be 100% accurate, so take it with a grain of salt, it's not gospel. Please undertake your own research before making any decisions about travel to South America......
I did start a Facebook page for my potential clients so typically I will just copy and paste here, any major updates I have already shared there. I'm happy to hear other people's thoughts and opinions and answer any questions you might have. Here's a couple of updates I shared recently...... The first is from April 22nd.
"Time for another Chile update...... Ironically I had just written a long update to my guides this afternoon, including an overview of what has been happening and then about an hour later, there has more new (positive) news.
Hopefully most of you were aware that Chile had re-opened their international borders (with restrictions) to foreign travelers back on November 23rd. Condition of entry were further updated on January 7th. By this stage you had to have negative PCR tests taken no more than 72 hours before departure and then undertake a few other formalities to enter Chile.
Nevados de Chillan was able to open up again for their summer season and the chairlifts were spinning for mountain biking. There were restrictions of course, as well as reduced capacity for the local hotels and restaurants. At least they were open as opposed to the non-event of their 2020 winter when the resort stayed closed for the whole season. Things were looking a lot more positive finally.
Unfortunately COVID cases start to rise sharply again in March and worryingly hospitals started to reach occupancy. 80% of Chile had to go into lockdown for almost a month, including the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located. The international borders were closed again for 1 month, on April 5th.
This was somewhat of a surprise as Chile had been doing really well with their COVID vaccination program. They moved early to secure their doses (mostly Pfizer and Sinovax Coronavax from China, both 2-shot regimes) and had one of the highest vaccination rates (per 100 people) in the world. Over 40% of all people had received at least 1 does of the vaccine by April.
So what went wrong? Why have infection rates increased again? Well, testing has shown that the Sinovax vaccine has not performed well at all, compared to the Pfizer vaccine. With only 1 dose, the Sinovax vaccine only has a 16% efficacy rate at preventing infection and a 36% success rate at keeping people out of hospital. The infection rate has greatly increased in younger people (below 60) who have lessened the use of masks, social distancing etc with news of the impending vaccination programs. The spread of the more contagious Brazilian variant has added to the increase in infection rates and hospitalizations as well. I think this article describes in more detail what has been happening - https://www.reuters.com/.../chiles-covid-19-vaccine.../.
The good news is that the infection rate has started to come down in the last few days. Today it was announced (thank you for the update Francisco) that the Pinto region where Nevados de Chillan is located, will come out of lockdown on Monday, as will other regions where the infection rates are lower (haven't heard about Santiago yet). The international border was closed on April 5th for one month and is scheduled to re-open on May 5th.
So, overall, good news. The Chilean government is prioritizing people who took the Sinovax vaccine to get their second dose (the Pfizer vaccine has proven to be 80% effective against the virus after only 1 shot) and secure a more diverse range of vaccines. The government is aiming to have 80% of the population (19.5m people total population) fully vaccinated by June, thus allegedly achieving herd immunity. That would be great news for our programs starting in August.
I'll keep the updates coming as I have them. All the best team.
Matt"