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The European Union Will Remove the United States from the EU Safe Travel List, after just over 2 months of being on the list. While the change once it occurs, isn't binding on EU member states, countries such as Germany have already categorized the U.S. as a COVID-19 High Risk Area, such that only fully vaccinated Americans can visit.
When the EU first included the U.S. on its Safe Travel List in mid-June 2021, the U.S. had fewer than the EU's threshold of 75 new COVID-19 cases per 100K population over the course of 14 days. As of late August 2021, the U.S. averaged nearly 600 new COVID-19 cases per 100K over the past 14 days, nearly an 8-fold increase. Yesterday, the U.S. averaged 47 new COVID-19 cases per 100K. How does this compare to Europe?
New COVID-19 Cases per 100K Population, 8/26/21
- Hungary: 1
- Czech Republic: 2
- Sweden: 9
- Italy: 11
- Germany: 12
- Austria: 14
- Denmark: 17
- Norway: 17
- Spain: 20
- Iceland: 21
- Portugal: 23
- France: 27
- Greece: 31
And since the U.S. average masks significant variation, here are some individual U.S. states:
- Maine: 16
- Maryland: 18
- Connecticut: 19
- Vermont: 20
- Massachusetts: 21
- New York: 24
- Washington, DC: 25
- California: 31
- Hawaii: 50
- Texas: 59
- Kentucky: 90
- Louisiana: 92
- Florida: 101
- Mississippi: 103
Small wonder that, even apart from the vexing reciprocity issue (since the U.S. still bars EU citizens from visiting the U.S., even those coming from countries that are far more vaccinated, with many fewer COVID-19 cases, while allowing visitors from higher COVID-19 risk countries) that the EU has removed the U.S. from the Safe List.
Many EU countries will likely continue to permit fully vaccinated Americans to visit, so we don't anticipate too much inconvenience for our clients, but we continue to recommend flexible travel arrangements and travel insurance that meets the traveler's specific needs and risk appetite.
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