In a move that doesn't bode well for dropping America's remaining travel restrictions anytime soon, the Biden administration Thursday extended that country's COVID public health emergency until 11JAN 2023.
The United States first declared its pandemic public health emergency in JAN, 2020 and renewed it every 90 days since then.
While the move reflects an expected autumn bump in case numbers and primarily provides for domestic COVID-fighting tools like the provision of free COVID vaccines and in some cases, treatment for Americans, it could also affect travel to the United States.
As Open Jaw has reported, the U.S. remains almost alone among Western countries in requiring proof of vaccination for non-residents to enter the country by air, land or sea.
While it has been under pressure from political opponents and travel industry stakeholders to drop the vaccine mandate, the White House has given no indication that it has any plans to do so. The renewal of America's COVID public health emergency until the New Year could indicate its vaccine mandate may continue into 2023 as well.
America's vaccination last-stand on the part of the government of the United States comes just as the busiest travel season of the year for many American winter/ sun destinations is fast approaching. American Thanksgiving is mere weeks away, the traditional launch of the winter vacation season.
An extension into the New Year could impact some of the busiest weeks of cross-border travel.
However, it won't make winter travel to the U.S. a complete bust. Most Canadians are fully vaccinated anyway, so for them, the U.S. rule is no barrier to travel. The government of Canada’s tracking reveals that, as of 16SEP, 2022, over 82 per cent of the entire population of Canada has received a full ‘primary’ course of COVID-19 vaccine (not including any booster shots), which is the standard enforced by American border officials.
Nevertheless, America’s border rules continue to exclude a significant number of unvaccinated Canadian and other foreign arrivals for leisure or business travel, and it's not good news for the travel industry if those restrictions are extended into the New Year.
