| Covid is ebbing in many parts of the world, but the travel restrictions that formed during the pandemic still have plenty of power to upend even the most carefully laid plans. And these days, Covid is not the only risk. It's something I learned in the passport control line at Singapore's Changi Airport in May. A border control agent pulled me aside and denied me entry to the city where I live and work, after a long flight back from visiting my in-laws in Brazil. I had been vaccinated and boosted against Covid, but I wasn't immunized against yellow fever. Or rather, I couldn't show proof of my vaccination. I was deemed healthy and low-risk after an examination. But that didn't exempt me from the required six days of quarantine. (Travel time, though, sliced two days off my sentence.) I was brought to an isolation office, furnished with bunk beds for fellow detainees and supervised by armed guards. Eventually I was transported to a nearby quarantine hotel, where I spent the next four days.  Bottles of Brazilian-made yellow fever vaccine. Photographer: DOUGLS ENGLE/Douglas Engle Everyone I encountered throughout the process was helpful and nice. But unlike Covid-19, yellow fever is not transmitted by humans. I was stuck quarantining from Singapore's mosquitoes, not its people. In serious cases, yellow fever can cause high fever, jaundice, and bleeding. It can be fatal. Most cases, however, cause no symptoms or lead only to mild illness. Rio de Janeiro, the city where I stayed, has no yellow fever and isn't close to the Amazon or other regions where the disease is present. Still, visitors from anywhere in the country, along with 41 others throughout South America and Africa, are required by Singapore to be immunized before entering. The emergence of new pathogens, and heightened awareness of existing threats like monkeypox, raise the potential of new curbs for travelers. That makes it even more important to triple check any requirements for countries you are entering, even if, as in my case, it's a place where you have lived for years. The orange chair outside my door where I received my meals seemed dystopian somehow, a reminder that I violated the rules. Given the paucity of cases and fatalities, the measures seemed excessive. Airlines these days are careful to clearly spell out travel rules related to Covid. They made no mention of the vaccine requirement for yellow fever. Covid has changed the world forever, especially in cautious places like Singapore. As for me and yellow fever, the city is safe. At least for now. — Kevin Varley | 
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