Europe to Open Borders on July 1, But Americans Could Be Banned

The European Union is starting to reopen. For now borders are opening up for EU citizens only and a few other European countries. But on July 1, borders will open up to more countries around the world. The details of which countries’ citizens will be allowed to visit Europe starting from July, has not been finalized yet though. The New York Times reports that current proposals could block Americans from entering because the United States has failed to control the pandemic.

Draft lists of acceptable travelers seen by The New York Times would group Americans with Russians and Brazilians as unwelcome. The United States has 2.3 million cases so far over 120,000 deaths. The pandemic has been under control more recently, but the reopening has seen some states trending up on new cases and hospitalizations.

The list of countries on the drafts mentioned, are based on a benchmark of the E.U. average number of new infections. That is currently 16 per 100,000 people, over the last 14 days. By comparison, the United States is at 107, Brazil’s at 190 and Russia’s has 80 infections per 100,000 people, over the last 14 days.

A ban on Americans from Europe would most likely see some reciprocal action taken by the U.S.. In March, when Europe was the epicenter of the pandemic, most citizens from European Union countries were banned from traveling to the United States. Then in May and early June, President Trump said that Europe was making progress and hinted that restrictions could be soon eased. But since then no action has been taken towards resuming travel between the continents. And if Americans are not allowed to travel to Europe, most likely the same will be true for Europeans travelling to the United States.