A traveler walks past status boards en route to a departing flight at St. Louis -Lambert International Airport. File Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI | License Photo
Oct. 4 (UPI) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer publish a list of country-by-country COVID-19 travel advisories, instead issuing warnings based on “a specific variant” or changing circumstances. Scuttling the country-by-county advisories is the latest in a series of government decisions acknowledging COVID-19 as a persistent issue. In August, the CDC stated the virus was “here to stay,” as officials loosened domestic travel regulations. Advertisement
In April, the CDC removed all countries from the “very high” risk category, changing the category to “Level 4: Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel.” That category would be reserved for “special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergent of a new variant of concern or healthcare infrastructure collapse.”
The CDC said its decision to drop the country-by-country advisories, announced Monday, is partially motivated by the fact that “fewer countries are testing or reporting COVID-19 cases.”
The CDC reiterated that Americans should be up to date on their vaccinations and boosters before traveling.
President Joe Biden said last month, “the pandemic is over.” But there are still about 1,500 deaths a day globally, according to Johns Hopkins University.
CDC ends country-by-country COVID-19 travel advisories
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