When was the last time you saw Paris? EU ambassadors to ease travel restrictions, but Americans still face hurdles
European Union ambassadors met this week to finalize plans to ease travel restrictions and allow fully vaccinated visitors – but roadblocks remain for Americans who can’t remember the last time they have seen Paris and wish to see it again.
European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said the 27 member states should ease restrictions. “The Council should also soon expand the list of non-EU countries with a good epidemiological situation from which travel is authorized,” he said.
Currently, the United States does not qualify under EU guidelines for access to travel (no more than 25 new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 people in the previous 14 days). EU officials are expected to set a limit of countries that have no more than 75 cases per 100,000.
The EU is expected to announce more details next week on easing existing measures, but individual countries will still be able to set their own requirements for who they allow and to what kind of quarantine arrangements, if any, they will be submitted as appropriate. arrival.
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EU countries can always set their own requirements for who they allow and what type of quarantine arrangements, if any, they will be subject to upon arrival.
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Case in point: While Greece allows vaccinated tourists from the EU, US and several other countries to provide a lifeline to the country’s economy, which is heavily dependent on tourism, Ireland does recommend still no tourists from other countries.
The UK has separate rules from the rest of the EU, as the country left the bloc under Brexit. It has a separate “green list” of countries. The United States is not on this list.
Travelers vaccinated in Ireland do not have to go through a mandatory 14-day hotel quarantine; however, they should still be quarantined upon arrival. (Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said unrestricted travel for passengers from the United States could arrive in july.)
“A person who is exempt from mandatory hotel quarantine or released from hotel quarantine early is still legally required to undergo a negative RT-PCR test prior to departure and complete a period of self-quarantine at home / at home.” address given on the passenger Tracking form, ” Irish Foreign Office declares.
Italy was opened to American travelers on “COVID-tested flights” from May 16 for the first time since the country closed its borders to American tourists in March 2020. In other words, those on board must have results. test negative, and they don’t. t must quarantine on arrival. Delta Air Lines DAL,
and American Airlines AAL,
offer these flights.
As for Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that France would be open to American tourists vaccinated on June 9 with a “Health Pass” (Health Pass) to prove that they are vaccinated with an approved vaccine. For those who book tickets, these rules can also be revoked.
Alternatively, these 10 countries host vaccinated Americans, but they won’t be cheap. These are Iceland, Belize, Croatia, Ecuador, Georgia, Guatemala, Iceland, Lebanon, Montenegro, Nepal and Seychelles.
Coronavirus vaccines currently authorized by the European Medicines Agency include those manufactured by Pfizer-BioNTech PFE,
BNTX,
Moderna MRNA,
AstraZeneca AZN,
and Johnson & Johnson JNJ,
Another caveat for travelers: Most airlines allow travelers to reserve the middle seats on flights, despite a recent study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggesting that blocking the middle seat reduces exposure to viruses, including the one that causes COVID-19.
“The physical removal of passengers from planes, including through policies such as vacating the middle seat, could provide further reductions in the risk of exposure to SARS-COV-2,” the report notes. The CDC recently released new travel guidelines for fully vaccinated people.
Several companies and organizations are developing “vaccine passports” that could make things easier for international travelers.