The U. S. government first issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory on travel to the Hubei province where the city of Wuhan is.
When 2020 began, you probably didn’t think there would be a ban on travel to China or the rest of the world. President Trump’s travel ban from China might seem like ancient history almost a year later. When Did The Travel Restrictions To China Start? The U.S. government first issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory on travel to the Hubei province where the city of Wuhan is. You might recall that Wuhan is the original epicenter of the coronavirus. A nationwide travel ban from China took effect on January 31, 2020, with a few confirmed cases in the United States. This ban was only for non-U.S. citizens who had been in China within the last 14 days and were not the immediate family member of U.S. citizens or/and permanent residents. This ban on foreign nationals entering the United States is still in effect if you have been in China, Iran, Europe Schengen area, United Kingdom, Ireland and Brazil during the last 14 days (as of September 18,2020). American citizens and permanent residents can still travel to China and back to the United States. If they felt symptoms, the travelers are to stay home and contact a doctor. Some states also have a mandatory quarantine if arriving from abroad. Earlier this year, all people arriving in the United States had to pass through a screening process to verify their body temperature and check for COVID-19 symptoms. This restriction went into effect before the World Health Organization (WHO) named the coronavirus a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Flights To China Stopped In February The domestic carriers were already beginning to reduce their service to mainland China before the January 31, 2020, presidential proclamation barring foreign nationals from entering the United States via China. On January 29, 2020, American Airlines announced flight suspensions from February 9, 2020, to March 27, 2020, between Los Angeles and Shanghai plus Los Angeles and Beijing. On January 31, 2020, American extended the suspension to all flights for mainland China. Flight service to Hong Kong from Dallas and Los Angeles ended on February 6, 2020. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines followed suit and kept extending the service suspensions due to the global lockdowns. While the U.S. airlines halted all commercial air travel to China and the U.S., some Chinese airlines could still make a reduced number of flights during the pandemic. USA Today reports these four Chinese airlines (Air China, China Eastern, China Southern, Xiamen) had 325 combined scheduled weekly flights between both countries pre-pandemic.
