03/19/2020 Tungol Law Headline News "State Department warns Americans: Don’t travel abroad, come home if overseas"
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POLITICO reports that the State Department issued an extraordinary advisory urging Americans not to travel overseas and to return to the United States if they can, a move that comes amid concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Level 4 travel advisory for all international travel is unprecedented and is the most severe such warning issued by the department. It urges American citizens living abroad or otherwise cannot reach the U.S. They must essentially stay where they are and avoid crossing international boundaries.
Numerous U.S. citizens are already in limbo abroad, and the new guidance threatens to stir further anxiety among travelers. U.S. lawmakers have raised questions about the State Department’s ability to aid Americans overseas, but in the new guidance, the department makes clear that U.S. citizens shouldn’t count on it to help.
“Have a travel plan that does not rely on the U.S. government for assistance,” the travel advisory tells Americans who decide to go overseas or are already there.
According to several people familiar with the situation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved raising the advisory from its previous status of Level 3. That earlier advisory merely encouraged Americans to reconsider travel abroad.
The State Department press office did not respond to requests for comment, but announced on Thursday that U.S. passport agencies will only accept applications from customers with life-or-death emergencies who plan to travel within 72 hours.
Current and former U.S.State Department officials, some of them with several decades of experience, said they did not recall such a travel advisory ever being issued in the past.
The highly unusual guidance came after seven weeks of steadily increasing restrictions on U.S. travel, following President Donald Trump’s move to limit travel from China at the end of January.
Other countries have closed their borders and imposed further travel restrictions as the virus has spread beyond Asia to Europe and the Western Hemisphere.
There are more than 10,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States, across all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Diamond, Dan, Toosi, Nahal and Mintz, Sam. “State Department warns Americans: Don’t travel abroad, come home if overses.” POLITICO, March 19, 2020, available on the web at https://www.politico.com/news/2020/03/19/coronavirus-travel-advisory-level-four-137227?fbclid=IwAR3d7oCjQ-9mp1Q5M8w_WBNO46fgxp45f8VQvAzi5hG4HL5NT4b4nluT8sY
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