EU Set to Close Borders to the US

     This week, The European Union is set to formally issue advice to its member countries that they should reinstate past travel restrictions on visitors coming from the United States. With Covid, the EU developed a safe travel list of countries whose residents would be allowed to travel between countries on the safe list without having to deal with extended quarantine and testing requirements upon entering the country. 

    This removal from the EU's safe list represents a huge step backward for the United States in the path of COVID-19 response and recovery. In recent weeks the United States has experienced a massive surge in Covid cases, reaching up to 507 new daily Covid cases per 100,000 residents, well over the 75 new daily Covid cases per 100,000 residents threshold required to make it onto the EU's safe list. To go along with this, the United States is also falling behind in its vaccinations, being passed by the EU last month and not currently looking to change things around.  

    As far as the economy goes, many countries, especially within the EU have reopened theirs over 2021 and are on an upwards trend, however, this new travel ban will surely deal a blow to the US's economy especially within the travel industry that was previously on the rise. This would also see tensions between the EU and the United States increase as even when the EU let Americans travel, was more vaccinated than the US, and there was much outside pressure to drop the EU ban, our administration still kept the EU on a travel ban list to the US, meaning now all easy travel between the US and EU is set to be banned. Frankly, I believe that this travel ban should be seen as an awakening to many US citizens that seem to believe Covid is dying down and things are almost back to normal when in reality new variants and dismissal of safety protocols will only result in the virus really affecting the country much longer than it has to be.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/08/10/us-europe-travel-ban/]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexledsom/2021/08/28/us-to-be-removed-from-eu-safe-travel-list/?sh=190438134dfa

https://www.dw.com/en/what-are-the-covid-entry-rules-for-travelers-to-european-countries/a-58017284

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/29/world/europe/eu-us-travel-restrictions.html