We had been doing so well…sigh.
In late June, we seemed to have a handle on COVID. Thanks to so many people who had been vaccinated, new daily COVID cases in the U.S. had gone below 10,000 for a few days (it had been trending near 300,000 in late 2020, before vaccine were available). Cities, states and even whole countries eased or even dropped many of their COVID precautions, and people were once again able to travel safely, despite fewer restrictions (here’s what it was like when Joe and I were in Iceland a couple of weeks ago).
However it’s just a month later and our country is looking at close to 60,000 new cases per day, with the numbers rising daily, thanks to a variant that developed in people who hadn’t been vaccinated.
In response to this bad news, the CDC is recommending that unvaccinated people continue to take all precautions until they’re fully vaccinated, and that vaccinated people wear a mask indoors in public if they’re in an area of substantial or high transmission.
If you read the headlines, you’ll also see different places updating their rules in light of this more contagious variant, to help keep their citizens safe. Chicago. Kansas City. Los Angeles County. Nevada.
But for those who are traveling, how do you find out what the current rules are for where you’re going?
There are a couple of ways.
The CDC
The CDC has several links to help you with your upcoming travel:
- A color-coded map of states and territories with info about community transmission as well as COVID, cases, deaths, tests performed and percent positive, which is updated daily, 6 days a week.
- Links to learn what the state, local, tribal and territorial government restrictions are for the place(s) you may be visiting in the U.S.
CNN Travel
CNN Travel’s website has a state-by-state list of travel restrictions, along with a link to each state’s respective government website, similar to the CDC’s links.
The local government’s website
Going to the official government website of the city/county you’ll be visiting can give you up-to-date information regarding coronavirus restrictions and recommendations. Just Google GOVERNMENT COVID and the name of the city or county in question (Note: you’ll sometimes have to click through a few pages to find the info you’re looking for).
Multistate.us
The one problem with many websites that track(ed) COVID policies in the U.S. is that they either only update weekly, or no longer update their sites, period.
Multistate.us is still trucking along, giving daily updates. The site does have its drawbacks though. Although their Twitter feed updates quickly, their main page only gives a picture (sometimes a belated one, at that) of what’s happening within the state, but not individual cities or counties. They do have a COVID-19 Policy Dashboard, but it’s kind of big and cumbersome and doesn’t reflect local policies, just state ones.
In conclusion
With rare exceptions, there doesn’t appear to be any super easy way to find out what the travel, mask, quarantine, etc. restrictions are for where you may travel in the U.S. at this time, save for states (but not cities or counties). But with the links we’ve provided, you should be able to find what you’re looking for, albeit with a little bit of searching.
Feature Photo: Pixnio
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