Dining out at a restaurant, offline dating, and in-person
classes for students: The list could go on ad
nauseum. Add to it, now, travelling abroad. And what's the common
denominator? They're all activities that people used to take for granted and on
which the coronavirus is now imposing limitations.
Difficult as it may be to imagine people still contemplating
a summer holiday under these conditions, for the stalwart of heart or simply
the stir crazy out there, it's possible to do so. You can still leave the
country, but only to go to certain places. Once there, the rules will vary
dramatically.
The U.S., with our government's catastrophic top-down
mismanagement of the crisis, remains one of the hardest-hit countries on Earth
in terms of COVID-19. As such, most foreign nations aren't accepting American
passports (or Americans) at present. However, there exist a little more than a
couple dozen exceptions to the general rule, as The New York Times reported last week.
The State Department's "Global Level Four Health Advisory"
remains in effect, cautioning against but not prohibiting international travel,
as such. It's important to remember as well that not only are rules governing
respective destinations completely case-by-case, but they're also subject to
change at any moment. That means that you could cross an open border, only to
have it close behind you with little to no advanced notice. That being said,
here's a list of the 28 countries currently accepting U.S. passports, the
lion's share of which are either Caribbean or Balkan states.
Albania
Antigua and Barbuda
Aruba
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Bermuda
Croatia
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
French Polynesia
Ireland
Jamaica
Kosovo
Lebanon
Maldives
Mexico
North Macedonia
St. Lucia
St. Maarten
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Serbia
Tanzania
Turkey
Turks and Caicos
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United Kingdom
It's striking the degree to which this list puts the
American coronavirus response, or the lack thereof, in perspective. Before the
outbreak this year, an American passport could get you in virtually anywhere.
After all, as a result of U.S. global hegemony, English is practically the
world's lingua franca, and the dollar remains the closest thing to an
internationally standard currency. Now, the only people who will allow
Americans through their ports are either our closest Western allies or tropical
island countries whose economies run on tourism.
