As vaccination drives picking the pace in the U.S. and around the world, nations that had been off-limits to foreigners for more than a yr due to the coronavirus pandemic are now gradually gearing up to reopen boundaries, specifically opening to vaccinated travelers.
The European Union announced it has agreed on measures to welcome fully vaccinated travelers and those from nations the place COVID is under control. It didn’t say when its 27 member nations would be rolling out the welcome mat.
As on Monday, Spain began to accept fully vaccinated Americans – along with unvaccinated minor children, Vaccinated Americans may travel from the U.S. to Spain if they present a QR code from the pain travel health portal and a vaccination certificate proving they were vaccinated at least 14 days before arrival. U.S. children under age 6 don’t need any special requirements to enter the country with their vaccinated parents.
Austria has mentioned it’ll admit Americans as long as they’ve had at least one round of their vaccine.
They join a growing list of EU nations, including Germany, Greece, Croatia, Bulgaria, and Romania.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last month that fully vaccinated Americans could resume travel at low risk to themselves, although the agency is still recommended against travel due to rising COVID case counts.
However, in mid-April, the State Department also announced it would raise the alert level for a significant number of countries to factor the CDC’s COVID data more heavily into its rating system.
The agency mentioned approximately 80% of nations now carry the “do not travel” label (level 4), its most severe warning.
The State Department mentioned the pandemic continues to pose “unprecedented risks” to travelers. “In light of those risks, the Department of State strongly recommends U.S. citizens reconsider all travel abroad.”
If Americans do decide to travel abroad, no matter which nation they decide to visit, they’ll still need to be tested for COVID within three days of an international flight back to the U.S. – even vaccinated travelers, people can find available testing sites in your destination nation and turnaround times on the website for the U.S. embassy there.
Some resorts are also offering COVID testing on-site to help satisfy the U.S. requirement.
