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OTTAWA — The European Union has deemed travellers from Canada safe to enter EU countries. But just because you can, should you?

The EU has agreed to relax temporary restrictions on non-essential travel for 14 countries as of July 1, including Canada, but not the United States, where COVID19

infections are surging in several states to the horror of observers, including top infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, who has warned that cases in the U.S. could reach 100,000 a day “if this does not turn around.” Canada fulfilled the 27-member EU bloc’s criteria for a safe — or, perhaps more accurately, safer — country, including a “stable or decreasing trend of new cases” over the last 14 days compared to the previous 14 days, as well as the nation’s overall response to COVID-19, including testing and contact tracing, and the reliability of its data.

The shortlist of endorsed countries will be reviewed and updated every two weeks. The recommendations aren’t legally binding — EU member states can reopen their borders, or not, to whichever countries they choose. Denmark

and Ireland, for example, are not taking part in the recommendation’s adoption.

The lifting of European travel restrictions comes as Air Canada and WestJet are set to drop social-distancing seating and resume filling middle seats, a move that has unnerved B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix. “What I’d like to hear from Transport Canada, from Health Canada is do they agree with this.”