The European Union is expected to recommend that its member states reinstate travel restrictions on Americans because of the increasing numbers of coronavirus cases. This comes as several variants of the COVID-19 virus, including Delta, become the main, transmitted iterations.
Despite the U.S. making some progress in vaccination efforts – large portions of the American population are still unvaccinated. This has made travel concerns into Europe even more concerning.
In June the 27 nations that make up the EU lifted travel restrictions on the U.S. for summer tourism. Removing the U.S. from that ‘safe list’ would effectively set the U.S. back several months in the pandemic.
Diplomats say official word could come down this week. Individual national governments will still have final say in what borders are opened or closed amid rising cases of COVID-19 across the globe.
The bottom line for Americans hoping that this winter would be an opportunity to do travel that didn’t happen in 2020 or the first half of 2021 is that it likely won’t be possible in all parts of Europe.