This week offered more glimmers of hope for those looking to travel internationally this year, with promising updates and announcements coming from both the White House and the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC).
Earlier this week, Reuters broke the news that the CDC updated its travel guidance for more than 110 nations and territories (including several travel hot spots).
On June 7, the following was posted to the CDC’s website:
“Primary and secondary criteria used to determine Travel Health Notice (THN) levels were updated to better differentiate countries with severe outbreak situations from countries with sustained, but controlled, COVID-19 spread.
“This update gives specific travel advice for vaccinated and unvaccinated people according to the THN level, ensuring THN levels reflect the current global situation and are aligned with guidance for international travel.”
The updated criteria included lowering the number of COVID-19 cases a country must have to receive a Level 4 rating (which advises against any travel to the destination). Now, a country must have 500 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 to fall into the highest Level 4 tier (which recommends avoiding all travel to the area), up from 100 cases per 100,000. As countries continue to control cases of COVID-19, their ratings will likely continue to be lowered.
As a result of the update, 61 countries have been lowered from the Level 4 to Level 3, such as France, Mexico, Panama, Switzerland, Turkey and Italy. And some other popular travel destinations — such as Anguilla, French Polynesia, Iceland and Belize — were among 50 additional countries and territories that moved from a Level 2 to a Level 1 rating.
A Guide to COVID-19 Travel Advisories From the CDC
Destinations are grouped into four levels, based on current COVID-19 levels in the destination:
- Level 4: Very High: Avoid travel here. If you must travel, make sure you are fully vaccinated before travel.
- Level 3: High: Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling here. Unvaccinated travelers should avoid nonessential travel
- Level 2: Moderate: Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling here.
- Level 1: Low: Make sure you are fully vaccinated before traveling here.
Although no change has been made to the restrictions currently in place for those arriving in the U.S., the CDC did adjust the U.S.’s rating to Level 3 (down from Level 4). Following the announcement of the CDC’s new guidance, the U.S. State Department adjusted its own recommendations for 85 countries and territories, according to Reuters, but left some countries’ rankings in place due to additional factors such as commercial flight availability, restrictions on U.S. citizen entry and challenges raised by obtaining COVID-19 test results within 72 hours.
This revision came on the same day that the CDC released findings from a study which revealed that individuals fully vaccinated with the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna) have reduced their risk of contracting COVID-19 by 91%.
The CDC and the U.S. State Department will also be involved in new “expert working groups” created by the Biden Administration this week. The White House has announced that the groups will be formed with top officials from Canada, Mexico, the EU and the U.K. to determine how to safely restart international travel. Any decision made by these groups will be “fully guided by the objective analysis and recommendations by public health officials and medical experts,” according to the White House.
In response to the news, Roger Dow, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, released the following statement:
“U.S. Travel and its membership believe a public-private task force can quickly develop a blueprint to reopen international inbound travel and jumpstart a sustained jobs and economic recovery. With decreased infection rates in the U.S., combined with the administration’s goal of having a critical mass of Americans fully vaccinated by July 4, there is a true near-term opportunity to safely begin to welcome back international visitors.
“International travel can be safely restarted by applying a risk-based and science-driven approach, and our hope is that the working groups are able to put a reopening framework in place very quickly,” he added. “The travel industry commends the Biden administration for taking this critical and necessary step on the international front, and we look forward to working with the federal government in every way possible to advance this process.”
