CDC has lifted “Do Not Travel” Covid recommendations for 90 destinations

With the latest decision, some international destinations have been moved to a lower level of danger "Level 3: High". Unvaccinated people travelling the United Kingdom, France, Israel, Turkey, Australia, Greece, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain or Russia are advised to take extra-precautions or to avoid their trip at the moment.

At a lower level we can find Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, Chile, Czech Republic, Jordan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Poland, Somalia, Uruguay and Vietnam.

"We believe the updated framework will help U.S. citizens make better informed decisions about the safety of international travel," a recent statement by the CDC quotes.

As for the present situation, the CDC has kept Level 4 notices only "for special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts."

On the other hand, there are also destinations for which the CDC has an "unknown" risk level and a “Do not travel” recommendation, due to the lack of information on the current status. Places like the Azores, Cambodia and Nicaragua fall under the category of destinations with an unknown level of risk.

However, some voices from the industry say that the “Do Not Travel” advisories are discouraging travel and the industry is losing revenue, so they are constantly pressing the U.S. administration to review changes and even lift Covid-19 testing. Yet so far, no official updates were announced in this regard.

Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen from the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health explains the current advisories and related risks:

“We've moved into a phase in the pandemic where people need to make their own decisions based on their medical circumstances as well as their risk tolerance when it comes to contracting Covid-19.

“Some people will decide the risk is too high for them in the higher categories. Other people will say, 'Because I am vaccinated and boosted, I am willing to take on that risk.'

"So this really needs to be a personal decision that people weigh understanding that right now the CDC is classifying the different levels based on community transmission rates, and basically only that. They're not taking into account individual circumstances."

Moreover, other factors need to be considered when deciding if or where to travel: which are the precautions you are willing to take, do you plan to visit multiple attractions, are these attractions indoors or outdoors and so on. “Those are very different levels of risk.", Dr. Wen added.

But all things considered, vaccination remains the best way to avoid becoming Covid-19 positive and infect others, the doctor concluded.

Source: reuters.com, cnn.com