The United States’ State Department has officially lifted the travel ban, however, Americans still can not travel globally due to other restrictions.
What we Know:
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The U.S. State Department implemented a Level 4: Do Not Travel global advisory on March 19 and, as of Friday, it has officially been lifted. Although there are some destinations still on a Level 4 advisory, the State Department announced in a press release that they would be returning to their previous system of “country-specific levels of travel advice,” with most countries being downgraded to a Level 3: Reconsider Travel status.
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Stating their intention to provide citizens with “detailed and actionable information” regarding global travels, the Department advises citizens to “exercise caution when traveling abroad due to the unpredictable nature of the pandemic.”
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The Department’s travel advisories are “informed by [the] CDC’s expert judgment,” and it is advised that citizens make themselves aware of the state of a country’s COVID cases and deaths prior to traveling to a destination abroad.
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Although the U.S. has lifted the Level 4 advisory, Americans are still extremely restricted in where they are able to travel around the world. On March 16, the European Union (EU) implemented a restriction on non-essential travel from “third countries” into the EU. Since the status of the pandemic has shifted for many countries, they have consistently released lists of countries that may be permitted to safely travel to the EU. An updated list being released every two weeks, the most recent list includes countries such as Canada, Japan, and South Korea – but not the United States.
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According to the EU, the criteria that determines if a country’s restrictions are lifted evaluate “the epidemiological situation and containment measures, including physical distancing, as well as economic and social considerations. They are applied cumulatively.” For the countries that still have travel restrictions, certain people are exempt: EU citizens and their family, long-term EU residents and their family, and essential travellers; Schengen associated countries (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway, Switzerland) are also exempt.
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The United States leads the world with 4.8 million coronavirus cases and over 159,000 deaths – and we only account for 4% of the world’s population. The nation faces increasing anti-mask resisters everyday and a total dismissal of social distancing in public spaces, big or small. This obviously declining state of our nation is understood to be the reason we have yet to have restrictions from other countries lifted.
The EU, and other independent nations around the world, have consistently denied Americans entry to their nations and will continue to do so as long as U.S. citizens continue to carry and transmit the deadly virus.
