CDC issues Level 3 warning for Italy

This is a major game changer for sure. We are going for spring break but our flights are into Amsterdam then a KLM flight into Rome. With the CDC changing to a level 3 this will impact all sorts of travel.

Here's the link: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/coronavirus-italy

We were supposed to leave March 17 and stay until April 8. We were flying in and out of Rome, and staying in Florence, Sorrento and then Rome.
We booked all this ourselves, so I am hoping our hotels will let us rebook and that United will offer alternative dates for flying.
Our first trip to Italy 🇮🇹 isn’t turning out so well.
But I am not as afraid of Coronavirus as I am of being quarantined indefinitely or having flights cancelled or not allowed to fly to the US.
For those reasons, I believe we will definitely postpone our trip.

Yes, certainly a game changer. With this level of CDC advisory for Italy, it is hard to imagine it will not seriously impact RS and other companies tours involving Italy, at least in the upcoming few weeks, and also airline policies re changes and refunds. I wonder how hotels, sites and day tours in Italy will treat reservations and pre-paid tickets that are not already refundable. It will certainly have devastating impacts on the Italian travel industry, maybe a sign of what is to come in other countries in Europe and beyond.

I postponed our trip until July. We were scheduled to fly out on March 8th to Florence. I had no issues with the hotels or walks of italy tours. Biggest pain was sorting things out with Lufthansa. We were disappointed, but actually was able to get some good deals.

In response, we are canceling our Italy tours that begin March 1-15. Those Tour Members affected will be contacted directly. We've updated our information for our Rick Steves Tour Members.

More discussion about the Coronavirus and Italy is here:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/coronavirus-what-you-need-to-know-about-travel-in-italy

Hmm, interesting.

The Canadian government has issued a Level 2 "Practise special precautions" health notice for Northern Italy.
https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices/215

The travel page for Italy doesn't have anything about avoiding travel to the country, only extra precaution for Northern Italy.
https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/italy

Our cross country ski even in Cogne (Valle d'Aosta) was just canceled today (Feb 28). Race organizers were negotiating the cancelation with the local organizers for a number of days as the Northern Italy situation became more intense.

I just canceled our March 1 Unitite flight to MXP taking advantage of United's Travel Waiver:
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/travel/notices.html?campaign_type=cce

This is a rapidly evolving situation, so I imagine health warnings will be updated on a regular basis. I noticed that the U.K. government has specifically listed the 10 towns to avoid in northern Italy - https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy .

That's interesting that the UK isn't viewing the entirety of Italy as a problem. I wonder if Europe in general is viewing the European outbreaks by region instead of by country. I am in the process of canceling my trip to Rome on March 9th and going elsewhere, but likely the coronavirus will be hard to avoid wherever you go. Very little testing as been done in the US, so it's possible that it's already more established in North America than is known.

So if I am following this correctly...

Our government has issued a Level 3 warning for Italy, i.e. don’t go there. Other countries still aren’t there yet.

This new warning from the CDC could impact our insurance claims and eventually may force your operators, etc to refund?

Oh wow, I JUST asked that question about other countries' cautionary levels a minute ago on the main thread about the virus. Noticed this morning that Canada's levels are still only 1 for most of the country and 2 for Northern Italy only. They are not advising against ALL non-essential. We didn't have a trip planned but I'm curious as well if citizenship can affect refunds/insurance?

It seems to me that "advisories" at whatever level are not legally binding prohibitions, and you are still making the individual decision on whether to go or not. The parties at the other end - hotels, tour guides, etc., - aren't bound by another country's recommendations.

Canada hasn’t said to avoid Italy, the UK hasn’t said to avoid Italy.

This is a post from a tour operator in Venice.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9GvEZ6I0NM/?igshid=f4mbat6ycpv6

The U.K. has not issued a travel advisory, but they have asked students returning from spring break trips to northern Italy to "self -quarantine", and a few schools have been closed for deep cleaning.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-51625733

While American CDC travel advisories are not mandatory, they influence airline and travel providers decisions on waivers and other change accommodations.

White House press conference today at 1:300 about the virus. Maybe they will explain why:

1) The CDC put all of Italy at Level 3 when the outbreak is in northern Italy.

2) Why the President said the virus is a Democratic hoax.

See below for updates....

My Italian contacts in Rome report business is being devastated as a result of the Level 3 warning. Very sad situation. It is like closing travel to LA because San Francisco has a problem.

We are off to Maui Hell-or-high-water. Wash you hands and chins up!.

White House Press event - parts of Italy now at a level 4 travel alert - Don't Travel. We have plans in August so hoping this calms down by then.

Great to see idiots bringing politics into this..... Lol... Get a life.

Not politics, no idiots here....just what is being said, in public, from the White House.

According to the Press Conference today...

1) The State Department wil be raising the Alert to Level 4--Do Not Travel--to certain parts of Italy (Veneto and Lombardy).

2) The President did not say the virus was a hoax. He said the Democrats claiming the administration has done nothing is a hoax.

Have trip booked for March 23 - April 5. Fly into Milan for one day and the off to Cinque Terre, Florence, Siena and Rome. Unless there becomes an all out travel ban to Italy, we are going. Unless you are a person that needs to worry about the endemic influenzas because of your age/health, then there is nothing to worry about in regards to this particular virus.

JV9 my situation is similar with regard to personal health concerns. Our arrival is 4/15 and into Rome - out of Milan 4/29. I'm inclined to do the same as you, but my concern is quarantine on the back end. I'm disappointed in the CDC decision to put all of Italy at Level 3 instead of just northern Italy - unnecessary IMO.

Hmm, interesting.

The Canadian government has issued a Level 2 "Practise special
precautions" health notice for Northern Italy.
https://travel.gc.ca/travelling/health-safety/travel-health-notices/215

The travel page for Italy doesn't have anything about avoiding travel
to the country, only extra precaution for Northern Italy.
https://travel.gc.ca/destinations/italy

The Canadian government has upgraded their travel advisory for northern Italy to Level 3 "Avoid non-essential travel".

From the Italy travel page:

Avoid non-essential travel to the northern regions of Aosta Valley,
Piedmont, Liguria, Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia
Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige due to the spread of coronavirus
disease (COVID-19).

The rest of Italy doesn't have any warnings.