Why Can’t Europeans Go to America?


In June, the European Union made an official recommendation to its member states. reopen your borders to American tourists after more than a year of tight restrictions. The United Kingdom also placed the United States on its “amber” list; this means that American travelers are allowed to enter, but 10 days quarantine and show evidence of a negative coronavirus test.

However, residents of Europe’s Schengen area, which includes 29 countries, city-states and microstates, as well as those in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, are still prohibited from traveling to the United States unless they are or are not US citizens. Spending 14 days in a country not in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention banned list. Some family members are also exempt.

The restrictions were first implemented in March 2020. President Donald J. Trump briefly ordered the ban to end President Biden quickly rescinded the ruling on European travelers during his last week in office.

Discussions about when to resume inbound travel have been incomprehensible. In late June, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was too early to say when the United States would lift travel restrictions for European Union citizens.

“We are concerned to be able to restore the trip as completely and quickly as possible. We are guided by too much science by our medical professionals. At a press conference in Paris, Mr Blinken said, “This should be the fundamental principle we look at,” adding that he “can’t give a date for that.”

Transport Minister Pete Buttigieg said on July 8 that the United States is not yet ready to lift international travel restrictions.

“A lot of that is due to advances in vaccines,” Buttigieg said. interview with Bloomberg TV. “Obviously, we see good and bad news out there in terms of variants. One moment, you read about a variant that is occurring around the world, then you know, it’s becoming the dominant species here in the US.”

Here’s what we know about the United States closing its borders with European countries.

In June, the White House announced it was forming “working groups” with the European Union, the United Kingdom, Canada and Mexico to reopen borders.

“While these groups have met several times, there are other discussions that need to be made before announcing the next steps to reopen travel with any country,” White House spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement. “As with many of these other countries, we’ve made great progress in our immunization efforts domestically, but we want to make sure we act consciously and are in a position to reopen international travel sustainably when it’s safe.”

At the first meeting of the EU-US working group on 18 June, officials said they would continue discussions on how to safely reopen travel between the two regions.

“Reciprocity is an important part of our approach to lifting restrictions on non-EU countries,” European Commission spokesman Adalbert Jahnz said in a statement. He added that the EU has “received assurances that this is a high priority issue for the US administration”.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said it will rely on science to guide its decision to relax border restrictions. But the picture of the virus has recovered in most parts of the United States and Europe, and the White House has not announced specific criteria for reopening.

State Department spokesman Ned Price said last month that US officials are monitoring the development of the virus, including the spread of worrying variants.

“I can’t put a specific time frame on that because it will largely depend on the course of epidemiology,” Mr Price said at a press conference on June 21.

While reported coronavirus cases in the United States have fallen from record highs in the winter, public health experts have expressed concern about the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant. dominant variant in the United States. According to one study, the country reports an average of 15,259 new cases per day. New York Times database.

After a slow start, vaccination campaigns started to gain momentum. The European Union was originally besieged by cuts In the supply of AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, frozen Relying heavily on the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in April. Reported coronavirus cases remain low in many parts of Europe as more people are vaccinated, but the spread of variants has fueled some outbreaks.

The UK has seen a sharp increase in reported cases since dealing with an outbreak of the Delta variant, but this has yet to be followed by an increase in hospitalizations or deaths. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently remove most of the remaining restrictions on 19 July

In Portugal, authorities announced in early July new curfews In Lisbon, Porto and other popular tourist destinations, it has reversed course after reopening its economy to prepare for summer visitors.

Travel lobby groups and airlines, Urged US to restart travels To support the economy with Europe. On July 7, a coalition of 24 trade organizations draft He called on the US to allow fully vaccinated travelers from areas with high vaccination rates and low concern levels to safely reopen borders.

“We know that international travel can be restarted, especially in countries with similar vaccination rates as the United States,” Roger Dow, CEO of the US Travel Association, said in a webinar on July 7. The immediate reopening of travel with the UK is worth noting that the country is completely indoctrinated in this regard. 51 percent of the population.

Some public health experts have also called for the reopening of international travel for vaccinated people.

Barry Bloom, research professor and former dean of the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, said United States officials may be wary of the spread of more infectious variants, but the presence of the Delta variant is already evident in the country.

Dr. “Keeping the British out is not going to change that fact,” Bloom said.

CDCs List of countries where travel is prohibited It also includes China, Iran, Brazil, South Africa and India.



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