The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has added four destinations to its list of “high” risk travel locations for COVID-19.
Guyana, Mongolia, Namibia and St. Kitts and Nevis were all deemed a Level 3 travel risk on Monday, according to the CDC. They were previously Level 2, or “moderate” risk.
“Make sure you are up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines before traveling to these destinations. If you are not up to date with your COVID-19 vaccines, avoid travel to these destinations,” the CDC warned for Level 3 destinations.
To be considered a Level 3 risk, destinations must have over 100 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days.
That level, now the highest among the CDC’s risk rankings, is considered “high” risk for COVID-19. Level 4 is known as “Special Circumstances/Do Not Travel.” No locations are currently on that list.
In April, the agency removed all destinations from the Level 4 risk category, saying it would reserve “Level 4” warnings “for special circumstances, such as rapidly escalating case trajectory or extremely high case counts, emergence of a new variant of concern, or healthcare infrastructure collapse.”
“With this new configuration, travelers will have a more actionable alert for when they should not travel to a certain destination (Level 4), regardless of vaccination status, until we have a clearer understanding of the COVID-19 situation at that destination,” the statement added.
In the U.S., cases are on a slightly upward trend, with a national daily case average of over 98,000, the CDC’s data as of Monday showed.
