CDC ‘Avoid Travel To’ List For Covid-19 Has A New Destination: Ukraine

Saturday, October 30, 2021

Ukraine is experiencing a Covid-19 surge. And as a result, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has now moved the country up to Level 4 on it’s COVID-19 Travel Recommendations list.

The CDC COVID-19 risk levels are like golf scores, higher is worse. Level 4 means that the COVID-19 risk there is currently “very high,” the highest of the CDC’s four risk level. The CDC recommends avoiding travel to all Level 4 destinations.

On Monday, Ukraine joined destinations such as Austria, Greece, Israel, Thailand, and the U.K. at Level 4.

A destination reaches Level 4 when the number of reported COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the past 28 days exceeds 500.


Recently, Ukraine has had more COVID-19 cases per day than they’ve had at any time during the pandemic. They’ve averaged over 20,000 new reported COVID-19 coronavirus infections and over 500 deaths each day. As of October 26, Ukraine has had 2,803,159 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 64,936 deaths throughout the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Ukrainian government has been trying to combat this surge. On Friday, schools closed for two weeks in an attempt to curb the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

A continuing big problem is the low, low COVID-19 vaccination rate in Ukraine. The Ukrainian government hasn’t really implemented vaccination requirements for anyone beyond teachers, civil servants, and those wanting to travel.
But even those minimal requirements have spawned a COVID vaccination certificate black market.

People apparently are selling fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates for $20 to $200 (USD) a piece proving the adage that people will fake it until they, well, keep faking it.

There is another continuing concern with destinations like Ukraine where the COVID-19 coronavirus is spreading and only a fraction of the population is vaccinated. And it rhymes with “boo variants emerging.” It’s the possibility of new variants emerging.

« Back to Page

• Hundreds of Cuban and Haitian refugees arrive in Florida at the start of the new year

• CDC drops its COVID-19 risk advisory for cruise ship travel