The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased travel advisories to Canada on Monday, advising Americans to "reconsider" travel plans into the country amid a spike in COVID-19.
The State Department said Monday that on the advice of the CDC, it had re-categorized travel advisories from Level 2 — "exercise increased caution" — to Level 3 — "reconsider travel" — due to "a high level of COVID-19 in the country."
Canada has seen an increase in cases as the more contagious delta variant spreads throughout the country. According to Johns Hopkins, case rates have increased from a low of about 2,500 a day at the end of July to a current total of about 21,000.
By comparison, the U.S. currently has a seven-day average of about 121,000 cases a day.
Canada reports that it has fully vaccinated 65% of its total population, while the U.S. has fully vaccinated 52% of its population.
The move comes less than three weeks after the U.S. lowered travel advisories to Level 2. That came a day after Canada opened its border with the U.S. for non-essential travel for some vaccinated Americans. It marked the first time since the start of the pandemic that Canada had allowed non-essential travel from Americans.
The U.S. has kept its restrictions on non-essential travel through its borders in place since the start of the pandemic. Those restrictions will remain in place until at least Sept. 21.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the U.S. seven-day average of daily new cases.
