Any individual decisions for cancelling or scheduling travel should be made by the member, weighing the most recent news, restrictions, and advice coming from various governmental and global agencies. Please refer to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of State, and World Health Organization (WHO) for the latest and most up to date information available.

IMG remains ready to provide advice, guidance, and practical support in this rapidly evolving situation. By far, most members who contract COVID-19 will have mild disease and not require admission to hospital but may be admitted to isolation facilities for up to 14 days. If members become more severely unwell, they should follow local advice – they may be directed to specific facilities that are better equipped to manage their condition.

IMG’s ability to move patients with COVID-19 varies throughout a pandemic. Both the originating and accepting countries will likely not allow any patient to travel when infectious. Additionally, travel restrictions are being placed on international travel by many countries across the globe. In most cases, members will have mild disease, remain in country, recover within 14 days, and then be able to travel (if necessary). It is possible that they may be subject to an additional period of quarantine on returning to their home country. As we progress further into a pandemic phase, where there is established community spread, restricting travel between countries becomes less helpful and it is possible that there will be a relaxation of restrictions. In reality, a lag in governmental response combined with regional variations will make transfer of COVID-19 patients complicated. The major challenge in these cases is sourcing an accepting bed, either because countries do not want to import cases or because of the lack of intensive care resources. IMG will make every attempt to coordinate transports in these cases and know which of our air ambulance providers can transfer these patients.

Patients with non COVID-19 disease or injury in outbreak areas may be subject to travel/evacuation restrictions. The extent to which this may occur depends upon the government involved. When widespread testing becomes available, it is our hope that port health authorities will allow transfer, but companies that have employees in poorly resourced areas must have contingency plans for staff to remain in country for treatment. In all cases, IMG will assess capabilities and options individually and will proactively maintain surveillance of our network providers, as well as the spread of the virus, to enable us to act quickly to supply our clients with the best course of action based on their unique situation.

IMG adheres to all governmental laws and regulations as they pertain to assisting and transporting members across the globe. If any member travels to a country after the ban was put in place, this may impact our ability to help them return home. Additionally, IMG must adhere to the travel restrictions themselves. This means that, for example, any member currently in Europe who may require a medical repatriation back to the United States should expect to experience delays in their return. As this is an evolving process, we will learn more in the upcoming days and weeks in terms of what, if any, exceptions of a medical nature can be made considering these travel restrictions. Each individual case is unique and will be reviewed and evaluated individually to determine the best course of action and plan.

Considering recent events and the quickly evolving global situation, IMG is not able to provide assurance that there will be no response interruption. In fact, the more likely outcome is that members should expect to experience a delay in movement in some form, and the extent to which this will impact an individual member and their situation will vary from case to case. IMG is taking steps to proactively remain in contact with our medical and transportation providers around the globe to understand their capabilities and limitations, and to provide the most current advice to our members. Our operations and medical teams also remain available 24/7 for any urgent inquiries, questions, or medical emergencies that may arise. IMG will “Be There” for our customers wherever their travels may take them, and will leverage our travel intelligence, provider network, and expertise in patient movements to come up with an action plan in the best interest of the patient.

IMG has extensive experience working with governments and medical organizations to assist our members during serious medical situations, including all global health emergencies since 1990. In addition, our robust network of air ambulance providers have experience transferring patients with infectious disease and we are engaged in a continual dialogue with them to understand their worldwide readiness.