I am keeping our pilgrims and others updated on my Footprints of God site at https://www.footprintsofgodpilgrimages.com/blog/concerns-about-travel-and-the-coronaviris/

Here is my latest update:

UPDATE 3/3: In the United States there are currently 60 cases of corona virus with six deaths. The facts are stated as of today on the CDC site. There are also 10 people infected in Israel, mostly all returning from other countries and currently in quarantine. These are minute numbers compared to the over 350,000 million people in the United States and the 9 million citizens in Israel (not counting the 4.55 million tourists a year).

To put this in perspective, this season the flu has afflicted 29 million Americans with deaths at 16,000.

Today an Israeli advisor made a suggestion to place all US tourists under a 2 week quarantine. Not only is this unworkable with the tens of thousands arriving each week but the Israeli Health Ministry flat out denied it. The only reason I bring up such a sensational news item is because people are reading it and actually taking it seriously.

We are leaving for the Holy Land with our group in two weeks. Janet and I will be arriving in one week to assess the situation and get everything prepared for the arrival of our group. Our agents and contacts in the US and Israel are confident and we are moving forward without hesitation.

None of the airlines have canceled flights, none of the agencies have canceled pilgrimages and neither the US CDC nor the Israeli Health Department have even mentioned Israel as a problem for travel. We suggest that people continue to move forward with their travel plans. There is no sense in losing our reservations at hotels since hotels are overbooked for two years and we don’t have any other openings for a group until 2022 since all of our upcoming pilgrimages are sold out and claimed until then.

if do you have any questions, please feel free to write to me at [email protected] or call Corporate Travel at (866) 468-1420.