The United States has removed all the remaining 89 countries from its “Do Not Travel” list, announced the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The Level 4 will now be reserved for special circumstances such as rapidly escalating case trajectories or extremely high case counts, the emergence of a new variant of concern, and healthcare infrastructure collapse.
Levels 3, 2, and 1 will still be primarily determined by 28-day incidence or case counts. The CDC stressed, however, that for all levels, vaccination remained a critical safety component for all travelers.
Make sure you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before traveling to these destinations.
Countries with a high level of COVID-19 cases are considered Level 3. Destinations are classified under Level 3 if there are more than 100 new cases reported per 100,000 people over the past 28 days.
Level 2 will be used to indicate a “moderate” level of COVID-19 transmission (between 50 and 100 new cases reported per 100,000 people over the past 28 days), while Level 1 will represent a “low” level of COVID-19 transmission (less than 50 new cases reported per 100,000 people over the past 28 days).
If you are not up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, avoid travel to destinations under Level 3.
For countries classified as Level 2, the CDC noted that if the individuals have a weakened immune system or are more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, even if they are up to date with the vaccines, they are encouraged to talk to their clinician about what additional precautions may be needed before, during, and after travel to this destination.
The State Department said it would also adjust its travel advisories and will no longer automatically correlate its guidance with the CDC’s travel health notice level, USA Today reported. But if the CDC moves a destination to Level 4 because of COVID-19 risk, the State Department’s travel advisory for that destination will also be raised to Level 4.
Many of the destinations that had been classified under the agency’s Level 4, have now been re-classified as Level 3, including several countries in Europe. The update comes less than a week after the CDC confirmed it would extend the federal mask mandate on airplanes and other public transportation until the 3rd of May. That decision was recently challenged by a federal judge in Florida, who voided the mandate. The judge’s ruling lifted the use of mask in several public locations.
According to Travel + Leisure, all travelers, including US citizens, are required to get tested one day before flying to the country.
