For nearly two years, COVID-19 has affected the amount of people traveling in and out of the United States due to intensive safety precautions. However, with the successful rollout of the vaccine across multiple countries, those feeling the itch to vacation outside of their respective countries can now do so.
The U.S. initially imposed travel restrictions on foreigners from countries such as Great Britain, Ireland, China, India, Brazil, and more at the beginning of the pandemic. Many of these countries were exhibiting high numbers of coronavirus cases, which led the White House to take action.
On October 25, Biden signed off on an order that would allow foreigners into U.S land. He stated, “It is in the interests of the United States to move away from the country-by-country restrictions previously applied during the COVID-19 pandemic and to adopt an air travel policy that relies primarily on vaccination to advance the safe resumption of international air travel to the United States.โ
In order to enter the United States as a foreigner, you would have to show proof of vaccination that has been approved under the WHO (World Health Organization) guidelines. Those vaccines include Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. The list excludes the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, due to the WHO flagging manufacturing concerns.
Unvaccinated travelers may still be able to enter the U.S. with certain exceptions, such as those who are allergic to the COVID-19 vaccines and those who have participated in vaccine trials.
However, despite being fully vaccinated, the United States government still requires people to take a coronavirus test three days before their trip (one day before for those who are unvaccinated). Once they arrive, the CDC requires visitors to take another COVID test within 3-5 days after landing. Travelers are also supposed to self-quarantine for a week.
In accordance with the news of travel restrictions being lifted, U.S. airline, hotel and cruise industry stocks went up by small margins. This is exciting considering that international airline travel has been down by nearly half during the summer and over 20% since pre-COVID times. Now airlines are seeing a stark increase in international ticket sales, which would hopefully aid tourism in the United States immensely.
