EU says American travelers barred

The European Union isn’t allowing anyone from the U.S. into the bloc when it reopens to international travel today. Fourteen other countries will be welcomed to the EU, including Canada, South Korea and Australia. But those from the U.S. and many other nations are deemed too risky because of spiking coronavirus cases in their home countries, at least for the next two weeks. Chinese travelers will be allowed to visit if that country confirms a policy of reciprocity. President Donald Trump banned travel from European countries in March, a move slammed by EU leaders at the time. But officials with the 27-member bloc said Tuesday that they aren’t making “political decisions” about travel.

Americans will not be allowed to travel to European Union countries when the bloc opens up to international visitors Wednesday, the European Council announced Tuesday.

Travelers from 14 countries will be welcomed to the EU, including Canada, South Korea and Australia.

Those from the U.S. and many other nations will be barred as too risky because of spiking coronavirus cases in their countries. Chinese travelers will be allowed to visit if that country’s government confirms a policy of reciprocity, the council’s announcement said.

The United States leads the world in the number of coronavirus cases with nearly 2.7 million infections as of Tuesday, according to Johns Hopkins data.

The criteria used to decide whether to lift pandemic travel restrictions were based on the epidemiological situation and containment measures in each country, the council said, including physical distancing, as well as economic and social considerations.

Tuesday’s decree will not apply to travel to Britain, which left the EU in January. Britain now requires all incoming travelers – barring a few exceptions, like truck drivers – to enter a self-imposed 14-day quarantine, although the measure is under review and is likely to ease in the coming weeks. The requirement also applies to U.K. citizens.

EU officials determined which countries’ visitors will be allowed by looking at the trend in new infections, testing capacity, contact tracing and other steps countries have taken to contain the virus outbreak inside their borders, Kasper Zeuthen, a senior media adviser for the EU’s delegation to the U.S., told USA TODAY last week.

The first yardstick: “The epidemiological situation in a given country … should be as good as or better than in the EU,” he said.

According to EU data, the bloc, including the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom, had 1.5 million coronavirus cases as of Tuesday.

Adalbert Jahnz, a spokesman for the European Commission in Brussels, the EU’s executive branch, told USA TODAY this week that lists would likely be reviewed every two weeks as new information about coronavirus trends in different countries becomes apparent.

Jahnz also stressed that the EU was not making “political decisions” about which countries should be allowed to travel to the 27-member bloc. President Donald Trump banned travel from European countries to the U.S. in mid-March. EU leaders slammed his decision at the time, saying it was taken “without consultation” from the EU.