People have felt cooped up for a long time and are anxious to travel. Many are traveling internationally. Is it safe? Well, there is a lot of Covid 19 circulating in Europe, but there is a lot circulating here as well. You can check the CDC’s rating of the country to which you are traveling by going to this website. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
You need to know what documentation to supply to the country to which you are traveling, but most of those requirements seem to be minimal at the moment. More importantly, you need to know what documentation to provide in order to return to the U.S. Again, the CDC has a helpful website to figure this out. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/index.html
One of the concerns is that if you test positive while abroad you are stuck there and can’t return. You need to make sure you have travel insurance which will cover your costs of extending your stay. If you have had Covid 19 in the last 90 days you can provide your test and a letter from your doctor stating that you have completely recovered which will allow you to re-enter the U.S. It goes without saying that you should be vaccinated and boosted to reduce you risk of getting infected while here or abroad.
Aside from Covid 19 there are the other risks of traveling like traveler’s diarrhea and malaria. There are other immunizations which may be recommended depending on the destination. You need to plan for this in advance as it takes two weeks for any immunization to be effective. This is the link to information on recommendations for your destination. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list
You also need to make sure that your health insurance covers you while abroad. Also, the latest medications for Covid 19 may not be available in other countries. Some recent travelers to France were given 4 drugs ALL of which have been proven to be ineffective for Covid 19 when they got sick. If you are at high risk for progression to severe Covid should you take Paxlovid with you? It is more readily available than it was in January, but it is not exactly plentiful. The government is paying $500 for a course of treatment. Should you take a box of it out of circulation because you might get sick? That’s a tough one.
