The European Union May Ban U.S. Travelers Citing Failure To Contain COVID
The European Union is deciding whether or not Americans will be allowed to travel to E.U. countries due to how badly Trump handled the COVID-19 outbreak
To add to the chaos and confusion that’s come with countries all over the globe reopening to jumpstart economies, it’s now looking like U.S. citizens (along with Russians and Brazilians) may be banned from visiting all 27 European Union countries. While many other countries have shown a dramatic decrease in COVID-19 cases, the U.S. has experienced the opposite. Many states across the country are currently seeing alarming spikes in positive cases, and it should come as no surprise that European Union countries want to stop the spread of the virus before it has the chance to resurge due to global travel.
According to The New York Times, the E.U. is attempting to stop Americans from entering their countries because of how badly the U.S. has failed to keep the COVID-19 outbreak under control. The United States has, according to the NYT, more than 2.3 millions cases and 120,000 reported deaths — more than any other country in the world. Additionally, let’s not forget Trump’s decision to ban people from many E.U. countries from traveling to the U.S. (the prohibition, by the way, still hasn’t been lifted). This caused, for a lack of a better word, major drama with E.U. leaders.
Per the NYT ‘s June 23 report, Trump justified banning European travelers to the U.S. back in March when we had around 1,100 cases and only 38 deaths to “protect” the outbreak from expanding. Now, the tables have turned and Americans are the ones who are being told they might not be allowed to visit E.U. countries (here’s a full list of E.U. members) for the foreseeable future.
This is a really big deal because stopping U.S. citizens from traveling to E.U. countries will have major economic consequences for both the U.S. and the European Union. Per the NYT, millions of American tourists go to Europe every single summer, which boosts the countries’ economies.
Additionally, many need to travel back and forth due to business reasons alone. The economic ties between the U.S. and E.U. are undeniable — but it seems that E.U. leaders are currently more concerned with keeping COVID-19 numbers down and their citizens safe — even if it creates a rift with the U.S. While countries in Europe and Asia saw a decrease in virus numbers, the U.S.’s only grew. It’s easy to see why they’re being so cautious letting Americans into their countries.
A list of “safe,” travel-friendly countries has been drafted based on the number of infections its seen. The final say will come by the end of the week: We’ll soon learn whether or not we’ve been included on the list of banned countries from the European Union (there are reported exceptions including essential travel).
