CDC and State Department tell Americans to avoid travel to Canada as COVID-19 cases peak

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U.S. government officials are suggesting American travelers "avoid travel" to Canada this week due to the highest level of COVID-19 cases seen thus far, elevating previous warnings issued shortly after the Canadian border reopened to vaccinated Americans in August.

Both the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated Level 4 travel warnings for Canada yesterday to signal "very high" levels of COVID-19.

(Screenshot courtesy of U.S. State Department)

The CDC's Level 4: Do Not Travel is a category for countries with an incidence rate of 500-plus new cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days. Data from The New York Times currently shows a daily incidence rate exceeding 46,000 new cases. Daily totals from the World Health Organization recorded more than 250,000 cases for the first week of January, the highest number of recorded weekly or daily cases since January 2020.

New case trajectory is also a factor in determining CDC levels.

Since September, Ontario has required proof of vaccination to access certain indoor spaces, including restaurants and bars. In December, Canada asked all citizens to avoid nonessential travel outside of the country due to the omicron variant just one week ahead of Christmas.

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Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.

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