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The Biden administration is “considering” reversing its travel ban on eight African countries due to the prevalence of omicron within the United States.
The U.S. enacted the travel restrictions in late November in an attempt to slow the spread of omicron within the U.S. Since then, the omicron variant has become the dominant version of the coronavirus in the country, accounting for 73% of new infections last week, according to federal health officials.
“We put the travel ban on just to see how much time we had before it hit here so we can begin to decide what we needed by looking at what’s happening in other countries,” President Joe Biden said during an address to the nation Tuesday when asked if he would lift the travel ban. “But we’re past that now. And so it’s something that is being raised with me by the docs now, and I’ll have an answer for that soon.”
Other countries that had previously announced travel bans against countries in southern Africa, including Canada, have since dropped the travel restrictions.
The CDC’s travel ban affects South Africa – where omicron was first detected – as well as Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Most noncitizens who have been in those countries within the past 14 days are not allowed to enter the U.S.
The restrictions came shortly after the U.S. dropped its travel ban against dozens of other countries on Nov. 8.
The travel bans have been a point of contention, with groups like the World Health Organization concerned that the travel bans would disincentivize countries from sharing information on new variants of concern while doing little to slow the spread of the virus.
While the travel ban may be lifted soon, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises against travel to the eight countries since they are considered to have “very high” COVID-19 risk.
► Are travel bans worth it?:They could slow the spread of omicron but they have repercussions, experts say
► Travel ban:US to restrict travel from South Africa, seven other countries due to new COVID-19 variant omicron
Follow USA TODAY reporter Bailey Schulz on Twitter: @bailey_schulz.
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