The EU has decided to open non-essential travel again. With the ongoing vaccination efforts across the United States, 99% of the country’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Over 317 million doses have been given out, with almost 150 million people fully immune to the virus. With countries desperate to get their economy rolling again, tourism is a bright start for many EU countries.
Tourism is such a massive hotspot for beautiful EU places such as Germany, France, Greece, and Spain. With the new openings allowing Americans to come into the country quite freely now, it is a great chance for the countries hardest hit to compensate their losses for gains. Especially in the thickets of summer, it is truly a wonderful time to return back to a sense of normality.
Of course, the threats of rising cases are always on the back of everyone’s mind. In fact, Great Britain’s greatly anticipated “freedom day” was halted due to a strong variant of the Coronavirus called the Delta variant. Civilians and travelers alike must wait another month before the consideration of reopening the country comes back. Portugal instantly opened their doors as soon as the EU allowed it, but immediately cases began rising to the horror of the country. The cases grew so much that it surpassed the previous total for the most cases in a single day. Invasive parts of Portugal were placed on lockdown to contain the virus.
Regardless, along with the opening of many EU countries comes hope. The action, supported by Europe’s economy ministers, was met with great elation. The EU has now considered the United States as “safe from an epidemiological point of view” (NYT), an enormous accomplishment for one of the most heavily-populated countries on the planet. It just shows how much progress America has made for a safer, healthier community.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/18/world/europe/eu-us-covid-tourism.html
https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations?country=USA
Image Credits: Maria Mavropoulou/The New York Times
