The CDC Guidelines for travel is a sentence that if you asked anyone in the year 2019, they’d say we would never be uttering it. Yet here we are in 2021, and that very sentence has become quite important.
If you plan on traveling anywhere, but especially outside the country, it would be extremely beneficial to you to familiarize yourself with the CDC guidelines for travel.
These guidelines work in a few ways. So we have picked 5 main things that you should know about the CDC guidelines for travel, before you set off in your next adventure.
1. The CDC Guidelines For Travel Are Mostly About Safety
The first thing that people get wrong about these guidelines is that they aren’t actual laws that prevent you from traveling.
Instead they are mostly focused on how you can keep yourself safe if you have to travel. Meaning that they are informative in nature.
Of course they do warn about regulations and tell you about areas where you can and can’t travel, but more about than in a second.
They give advice like keeping social distance between you and the people you haven’t or wont travel with.
There is a strong emphasis on quarantining yourself after arrival, and possibly even before you set out to travel.
Another interesting tip or guideline that the CDC had was checking whether the hospitals in the area that you are traveling are overfilled with patients, and seeing how the situation there is.
They also recommend that you wear a mask properly, avoid crowded places, keep your mask on inside busses, planes and other public areas.
2. The CDC Guidelines For Travel If You Are Just Considering Traveling
If you are just considering to travel, and are still not sure whether you must travel or not, here’s what the CDC advises you consider.
We already mentioned one, checking the hospitals if they are filled in the area where you are going. You can do that and more here.
Then there is the idea of whether you have someone at risk in your family or household. If you do, the CDC advises that you act and behave as if you too are part of the at risk population.
This is because it is extremely plausible that if you contract the virus, you will give it to the person who is vulnerable. The CDC gives tips on how to protect yourself, if you are in this position.
Another major thing to consider are the different restrictions that vary widely from region to region. In some cases, there are different states of lock down in different cities within the same state or country.
To make sure that where you’re going doesn’t have something like that, the CDC provides a ‘Travel Planner’, which we left a link to above.
In the CDC Guidelines for Travel, you will also find questions like are you traveling by bus or plane, do you plan to attend social gatherings and are you traveling with people who don’t live with you?
The CDC recommends that if you answer yes to these questions, you should delay your traveling plans and maybe avoid them all together.
3. The CDC Guidelines For Travel As A Helping Hand In Avoiding Infection
The CDC Guidelines for Travel make it painfully obvious that if you don’t have to travel, you shouldn’t. Traveling should be avoided at all costs, if you can manage it.
However, if you must travel and have no other options, here are some of the things you can do to help increase your protection from the virus.
First, if you are eligible take the vaccines. If you take a vaccine that requires two doses, you will need to wait 2 weeks after the second dose until you are good to travel.
Get tested 1-3 days before the day you plan to travel. If you test negative, keep the test with you when you travel, in case someone asks to see it. If you test positive – DON’T TRAVEL!
Then you have your usual protective means such as masks, social distancing, increased hygiene; especially of your hands and avoiding touching your face.
It is also suggested that you bring extra supplies with you when you travel (bring more than 1 face mask), and that you keep a disinfectant at hand that is at least 60% alcohol.
4. The CDC Guidelines For Travel Can Also Be Restrictive
It may seem like the CDC Guidelines for travel are just like the guidelines of WHO regarding the Corona virus, but there is a difference.
Although the CDC themselves do not put restrictions in place, they do let people know about any existing travel restrictions and how you shouldn’t go to areas and places where they exist.
For example one of the main things to note is that any person trying to enter the US, must provide a Covid test that has been done at most in the past 3 days. Note that this applies to US citizens too!
For example, the state of California, as of the publishing of this post, does not require people to provide a Covid test upon arrival. The state of New York on the other hand does.
There is also a list of countries which aren’t allowed to enter the US as of right now. This only applies to people who are citizens of those countries.
The list Includes: China, Iran, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican City, Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil.
Note that this list is subject to change.
Hopefully the whole madness of this pandemic is nearing its end, and eventually traveling will be back to normal, and we won’t have to worry about the CDC Guidelines for travel anymore..
Until then, we suggest that if you can, you avoid traveling for a while. Maybe stay at home and read books with your kids, we have a list to help you pick one.
