As It Lifts The International Travel Ban, U.S. Still Meets Criteria For CDC’s Level 4 ‘Avoid Travel’ List

Twenty months since Covid-19 was declared a pandemic, the United States is lifting travel restrictions that have barred many international visitors from entering the country. Beginning today, the country is rolling out the welcome mat for vaccinated international visitors.

The United States now requires foreign adult travelers to be fully vaccinated with a World Health Organization-approved vaccine. Children under age 18 are exempt, as vaccine availability is still limited in many countries. 

In addition, all incoming foreign visitors and returning vaccinated U.S. residents must have a negative result from a Covid test result taken within 72 hours before arriving into the U.S. Unvaccinated Americans returning to the U.S. have a much shorter, one-day pre-departure window to take a Covid test and obtain a negative result.

The onus for verifying vaccination records and test results falls upon the airlines, which has led industry experts to predict airport wait times of as long as eight hours, at least in the immediate future. Foreign travelers must show airline personnel proof of vaccination, which can be a paper certificate, a photo of the document or a digitized version.

This is a huge shift. Previously, the U.S. had banned travel from specific countries based on the country’s Covid-19 risk level. Now the U.S. is changing its policy to allow in international travelers by both land and air, as long as they are vaccinated, with only a few exceptions.

International travel guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention remains largely based on destination countries’ Covid-19 risk levels. The agency’s four-tier system categorizes countries from Level 1, meaning “low risk,” to Level 4, meaning “very high risk.” This top tier means that a destination has recorded more than 500 new cases over past 28 days per 100,000 population. Level 4 still comes with an “avoid travel” warning.

As the CDC monitors Covid-19 levels around the world, it continues to add countries to its “avoid travel” list. Last week, Belgium, Russia and Slovakia were upgraded to Level 4, along with the lesser-known African nation of Burkina Faso.

As of today, 79 countries are at Level 4. Ironically, the United States itself has been shaded dark red on the CDC’s world map for much of the pandemic and remains so on the day international travel to the country resumes.

The United States is recording roughly 35% fewer new daily infections as a year ago, according to the Covid-19 tracker from the Brown School of Public Health. But the number of new infections is still at a level deemed to be very high risk, especially in the Mountain West and Midwest regions of the country.

Overall, the United States is still recording 22 new daily cases on average per 100,000 people, which translates to more than 616 new daily cases per 28 days per 100,000 people. That is well over the CDC’s threshold for Level 4 travel health notice.

Only 58% of adult Americans are fully vaccinated, according to the vaccine tracker from the Brown School of Public Health. Ironically, that means more than four in 10 adults in the U.S. would not be allowed to enter their own country except for the fact that they are American.

CDC guidance for both international and domestic trips is to delay travel until you are fully vaccinated.