Don’t travel to these vacation spots, CDC warns. They have a ‘very high’ COVID risk

A new year means new adventures for pandemic-weary travelers. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising vacationers to rethink visits to some countries as the omicron coronavirus variant continues to spread.

The public health agency on Tuesday, Jan. 18, added nearly two dozen destinations to its list of countries with “very high” risk for COVID-19, urging travelers to avoid them.

Several top vacation spots, including seven islands in the Caribbean, were upgraded to the “Level 4” risk category.

The alerts are part of the CDC’s weekly Travel Health Notice system, which warns travelers about health and safety threats around the world. Countries are ranked from “Level 1” risk to “Level 4” risk based on reported COVID-19 data, according to the agency’s website.

The CDC updated its list include 22 new destinations, all of which were upgraded from a “Level 3” risk to “Level 4.” They are:

• Albania

• Argentina

• Australia

• The Bahamas

• Bahrain

• Bermuda

• Bolivia

• British Virgin Islands

• Cape Verde

• Egypt

• Grenada

• Guyana

• Israel

• Panama

• Qatar

• St. Kitts and Nevis

• St. Lucia

• São Tomé and Príncipe

• St. Maarten

• Suriname

• Turks and Caicos

• Uruguay

For the full list of high-risk countries, find the CDC travel map here.

To determine a country’s COVID-19 risk, the CDC uses “data reported by the World Health Organization and other official sources,” the agency’s website states.

For example, destinations with a “Level 4: very high” coronavirus risk have reported more than 500 new cases in the last 28 days per 100,000 people, according to the CDC. People are urged to avoid traveling to countries that fall into this category.

Countries marked as “Level 1: low” risk reported less than 50 cases in the same time span per 100,000 people.

“If a destination does not provide data, their THN level is designated as ‘unknown’ and travelers are advised to follow THN Level 4 recommendations,” CDC officials said.

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