As the number of cases of coronavirus in the US reaches near four million, countries and holiday destinations from around the world also continue to restrict American travelers and tourists. This is primarily due to the fear of coronavirus as the pandemic is worsening in the US while other countries are regaining their control over the virus transmission.
For the first time in years, the number of American travelers has decreased. Even during the months of summer, there are very few tourists from the US traveling internationally. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, any person who plans on traveling has to check local restrictions, potential travel bans on the destination as well as the availability of flights.
With the risk of coronavirus spread during public transport, which also includes air travel, the number of flights from within the US and other countries has declined. The US government plans on reopening completely in a few weeks which means that restrictions on air travel may no longer be an issue.
However, will Americans be able to travel after lifting of any travel bans? The answer is tricky and depends on the planned holiday destination.
Many places are no longer allowing tourists from the US because of the situation of the health crisis in the country.
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At the beginning of the month of July, the European Union allowed visitors and travelers from a number of countries after having restrictions for months but the list of countries that were allowed to visit the continent did not include the US.
In fact, the US was in the list of countries whose residents can be restricted due to the de facto travel ban that stops residents from countries with worsening coronavirus pandemic.
For instance, the European state of Lithuania was in the countries to allow visitors in July but had certain conditions. The country’s policy for travelers states that travelers will be able to enter “provided the incidence of COVID-19 (coronavirus infection) in the country where they lawfully reside has not exceeded 25 cases/100 000 population in the last 14 calendar days,”
The US, in accordance with the latest statistics from the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, currently has a rate of 1,128.3 cases per 100,000. When the de facto ban was introduced by the end of June, the US already had over two million confirmed infections.
A few weeks later, the rate of both the infection and the death toll has continued to increase.
As a consequence, the list of countries that are no longer allowing Americans to enter is also growing. A recent CNN report showed that people from the US can only visit a total of nine countries at the moment.
Although certain travel restrictions under the Level 4 travel advisory in the US can also stop Americans from traveling in the first place, it is indeed true that the number of cases of coronavirus in the US is growing and the crisis is worsening rather than improving.
Therefore, thee is an urgent need for a second lockdown and new coronavirus control measures to tackle the problem of growing cases of coronavirus in the US as soon as possible.