CDC downgrades three countries to moderate travel risk for COVID-19

Sept. 19 (UPI) -- Four new countries were moved into the moderate risk category for COVID-19 on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Fiji, Kuwait, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Sint Maarten were all moved into the Level 2 category. Three of the four had been in the high risk category. The CDC had previously said that it didn't have enough data from Sint Maarten to make an assessment.

However, half of the destinations monitored by the CDC are still listed in the high risk category, including Brazil, France, Mexico and Thailand.

Level 3 means that those destinations have had more than 100 cases per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.

CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen urged people to make responsible decisions and continued to recommend vaccines.

We're in "a phase in the pandemic where people need to make their own decisions based on their medical circumstances as well as their risk tolerance when it comes to contracting COVID-19," Wen said.

People traveling to the United States no longer have to present a negative COVID-19 test, but the CDC still advises travelers to test before flying back to the states.

"Of course, if people have symptoms or exposure while traveling, they need to get tested, and if they test positive, to follow CDC's isolation guidelines," Wen told CNN Travel.

COVID-19 cases and deaths last week remained at their lowest levels since June with an 11% weekly drop in infections to around 475,000 daily and a 10% decline in fatalities to about 1,550 each day -- about one-10th of the record highs.