By Zaidie Crowe, Senior Staff Writer
The COVID-19 pandemic declaration is one of the most severe and far-reaching blows that the travel industry has suffered worldwide. There are many restrictions and even a complete stoppage of travel between some countries due to the precautionary efforts to curb the disease’s spread. The CDC says that travel increases the chance of getting and spreading COVID-19, a view shared by the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international health-related bodies and organizations.
We will summarize the guidelines for travel that the official public health authorities recommend for everyone to stay safe, protect the family and those you encounter along the way. First and foremost, if you are sick or come into contact with someone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days, you should not travel. The same applies to anyone else with whom you plan to travel.
Remember, a person could have the coronavirus without showing any symptoms and still spread COVID-19 to others. For this reason, countries mandate isolation for visitors during a specified number of days before they can mix with the local communities. It is advisable to take a COVID-19 test to be sure of your status before traveling. To stack the odds in favor of staying well, you should do some other things before deciding to travel.
- Consider the number of COVID-19 cases and check if the positivity rate is on the increase at your destination for the last seven days. These considerations apply whether your travel is internal, national, or international.
- Suppose your risk of getting COVID-19 is high, and you are likely to suffer more severe symptoms due to your age or any underlying medical conditions? In that case, you should weigh the importance of travel against your need to maintain your wellness.
- You must establish whether there are requirements or restrictions for travelers at your destination. Some state, local, and territorial governments have conditions, such as wearing masks in public and a mandatory isolation period of 14 days after arrival. Information on any of these requirements is available on state, territorial, tribal, and local public health websites.
If your destination is in another country, their Office of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Health, Tourism Board, Bureau of Consular Affairs, or the US Department of State will post details about entry requirements, restrictions for visitors, etc.
Whether you decide to travel must be based on taking every precaution that you reasonably can to protect your health and well-being and the health and wellness of those you associate with or share a household. It may be a matter of life and death and deserve consideration of facts from a reliable public health source.
