In late June EU officials were beginning to lift travel restrictions for U.S. travelers even if they weren’t vaccinated as we were put on the safe travel list. Well what a difference a few months can make… The EU has reinstated their recommendation to restrict nonessential travel from the United States. Each individual country within the EU can now decide whether to allow nonessential travel for fully vaccinated tourists. This status change goes into effect September 5th.
In order for countries to be added to the safe list they must have fewer than 75 new Covid cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last 14-day period. Since the US has long surpassed the EU‘s statistical threshold for safe travel it is no surprise that we are back on the restricted list.
What does this really mean? This does not mean an end to European travel. That United States citizens would go back to having coronavirus restrictions, such as quarantine and testing requirements each determined by the country you are visiting. The European Union also released a recommendation urging member countries to issue travel restrictions for visitors from the United States who are unvaccinated against the coronavirus. So, this recommendation could affect unvaccinated travelers the most.
What does this mean for vaccinated travelers? Fully vaccinated travelers with an E.U.-approved vaccine such as Pfizer-Biontech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) – nothing should really change for you. Vaccinated tourists should still be allowed to visit member states that allow vaccinated visitors. Most countries require that all travelers must provide proof of a negative molecular COVID-19 test result from a test taken within 72 hours of the scheduled departure time of the flight to that country. And many countries also ask travelers to bring proof of vaccination and waiving quarantine requirements for those who can show proof of vaccination. There are even easy ways of Turning your Vaccination Card into a Digital Vaccine Passport.
What does this mean for unvaccinated U.S. travelers? That is the big question here – what will change. There is really no clear answer on that yet. It is more important than ever to check the entry requirements for their chosen location and work with a travel agent to help you sort it all out. We recently covered Tour Operators Requiring Vaccinations for Travel and you will see that almost every single country had different rules for entry and departure. Each and every cruise line has different rules as we cover in COVID-19 Vaccine To Cruise? Every major tour operator such as Tauck Tours and Globus Tours has really gone back to the drawing board and adapted their tours with new cleaning standards, smaller groups and many more safety measures to keep their guests safe.
Travel during the coronavirus pandemic is anything but simple. Always be sure to check the requirements for the country you are traveling to. Now is also a good time to check your passport and make sure it is not expiring. There is a huge backlog of passport renewals.
