CDC Adds Seven More Countries To High Covid-19 Travel Risk List

This week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added seven more countries to the list of very high-risk countries that people from the United States should avoid traveling to.

The “Do Not Travel” list compiled by the CDC is based on the number of new infections per 100,000 people in the country. While the body has advised travelers to avoid some countries, the infection rate in the US remains high enough for most states to make the “Do Not Travel” list.

International travel remains unadvised by the health protection agency. It has created a list of countries based on infection rates that travelers have been advised to avoid. The currently listed 74 countries have been categorized from Very High Risk (Level 4) to Low Risk (Level 1). The risk level depends on the number of new cases per 100,000 people per day.

On Monday, August 9 the CDC listed seven Level 4 counties. Aruba, Eswatini, France, French Polynesia, Iceland, Israel and Thailand have recorded more than 500 new infections per 100,000 people per day in the past 28 days, CNN reported. Thus, they have been added to the Very High-Risk category of the list.

Last Monday, August 2 the CDC added 16 countries to the Very High-Risk list. Greece, Ireland, Malta and US Virgin Islands were a part of last week’s list.

While advising against international travel, CDC set guidelines for those who must travel to the listed countries. The body recommends that the travelers are fully vaccinated before they embark on risky international travel. Even with the vaccine, travels risk getting infected with the different variants that are being discovered in different parts of the world.

However, traveling within the US is not safe either as Forbes pointed out. As per the CDC parameters, the US would be on the “Do Not Travel” list as well. Most of the states within the country would be in the high to very high-risk category.

While the United Kingdom is on the Level 4 list with 39.7 new cases per 100,000 people per day, the US per day is recording 42.4 new cases per 100,000 people. French Polynesia has one of the highest infection rates of 122.6 new infections per day per 100,000 people. Florida alone beats the count with 185.9 daily cases per 100,000 people.