Ever since Covid-19 changed our reality, travel has been a particularly delicate thing to do. With varied vaccination numbers across both the United States and the rest of the world, booking a trip has become a highly individual decision that requires an equal amount of thought towards safety precautions and emergency plans. Though there was a brief reprieve from Covid-related worries early this summer, those concerns were quickly replaced when the Delta variant emerged and vaccination numbers slowed.
As the weather cools off and people begin spending more time indoors together, it is time to reevaluate your fall and even winter travel ideas. Advice for travel has begun to shift and the destinations that are accessible are rapidly changing too. With the right precautions, it is still possible to travel. However, those who do should be prepared for just about anything—including accepting healthcare abroad.
Vaccinated Travelers Have the Most Options
Currently, vaccinated travelers by far have the most options for travel. The CDC doesn’t recommend travel for the unvaccinated, and their primary suggestion for vaccinated travelers is to avoid level four destinations such as Spain, Greece and the United Kingdom, among other countries. However, if travel is absolutely necessary to these destinations, only the vaccinated who take precautions such as masking up are at the lowest risk. Even those who are vaccinated but have a high-risk condition or are immunocompromised should avoid travel abroad.
Travelers who are fully vaccinated will find many more doors open to them. Countries such as France are only allowing vaccinated travelers to enter the country and soon proof of vaccination will be necessary to eat indoors there too. If numbers continue to rise over the winter, people can likely expect more destinations to enact similar protocols in addition to curfews.
A large portion of the decision to travel should be determined by each travelers’ health condition and vaccination status. But even then, anyone who goes abroad should research their destination’s healthcare system. If the worst were to happen while away, travelers should be prepared to submit to the local healthcare system. It also might be necessary to quarantine in the country, which is another expense to be prepared for just in case.