Vaccinated travelers can start packing their bags

A toast to more travel!

 Good news for folks who can’t wait to travel again!

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given the green light for Americans to travel if they are vaccinated against COVID-19.

In an update on April 2, 2021, the CDC stated, “Fully vaccinated people can resume domestic travel and do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.”

However, there are two caveats: Some destinations still require testing within a short time frame before visitors can enter, and travelers who go abroad are still required to have a negative COVID test to board international flights back to the United States. The CDC also advises, but does not require, getting tested for COVID three to five days after returning.

Start packing your bags.

Despite the new guidelines, the CDC maintains it is not reversing its advice to avoid nonessential travel as a precaution against a possible new surge in cases.

But in the real world people are anxious to start traveling again and may decide that the low risk is worth taking if they are fully vaccinated, in good health, and continue to practice safe measures such as wearing a mask when around other people, social distancing, and washing hands often.

Take plenty of hand sanitizer.

For example, Larry and I took a road trip to Colorado in September, visited family in Michigan in November, and spent a week in Florida in early March (before spring break!) We planned those trips carefully and chose activities with a minimum of contact with others—and felt as safe as we would have been staying home. Now we are fully vaccinated and ready to consider international travel within the next four to six months.

Costa Rica is among countries that
welcome vaccinated travelers.

When making a personal decision about whether to travel, consider a research report released on March 29 by the CDC that indicates the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are highly effective at preventing infections. The data indicates that a single dose of either vaccine prevented 80 percent of infections, and two doses prevented 90 percent of infections. The study also found that the vaccines resulted in a high unlikelihood of asymptomatic infection—a common source of transmission.

Staying closer to home,
plan a trip to one of
America's fantastic
 national parks.

For unvaccinated travelers, the CDC’s previous recommendations continue to apply: Get tested one to three days before a trip and three to five days after you return home. Also self-quarantine for seven days after travel, even with a negative test, or stay home for 10 days after travel if you do not get tested. These precautions help protect not only the unvaccinated traveler but others with whom they might have contact.

As more and more Americans are vaccinated, the travel industry is hoping to return to a semblance of pre-COVID times. And many people are starting to plan travel for later in the year, even into 2022 and 2023.  That’s a winning situation for everyone!

Photos from free sources.