dick_badcock

Hi there, first post so please move thread to appropriate spot if I am in the wrong area.

I have trawled a lot of the forums and also used the search functions but cannot seem to find an answer to the following;

I am a US citizen currently living in Europe. I would need to go to the US to collect something important (a live animal!). Everything I can find says I need to go self isolate for 14 days after arrival in the US. I am planning on staying less than 24 hours, in one evening and out the next day. I would stay in an airport hotel. Can I break the quarantine in order to leave the US again?

This is certainly the rule in Europe (UK, Norway etc). I know flying crew can fly in and depart 24 hours later. So there is an exception list somewhere. But all searches on the internet only lead to the useless CDC website that says I must self isolate for 14 days.

Anyone here have the definitive?

s0ssos

Absolutely not. US has no quarantine regulation. Nothing in the US is really enforced anyway. However, different states have quarantine restrictions, so you'd have to tell us where you are flying in to.

dick_badcock

Thanks,

I would like to enter at SEA.

When you say absolutely not, is that an answer to my thread (Can I enter the US for 24 hours...?) or absolutely not that no one has the defintive...?

s0ssos

Sorry, I meant US has absolutely no quarantine restriction. And AFAIK neither does Washington state

The _Banking_Scot

Hi

Have you checked that you can get back into the EU on your return from the US ( ie a residence permit since you are living in Europe at the moment?)

As mentioned above getting into the US will not be a problem (I would also check on the requirments for bringing a live animal back to the EU).

Apologies if the above is already sorted.

Regards

TBS

nomiiiii

As a US citizen you should have zero problems entering or exiting US from the US government's perspective.

Your bigger issue will be getting back in EU as a US citizen. Hopefully you have some EU residency or other rules that allow you entry back in EU, and also doublecheck any rules around animals for EU.

dick_badcock

Thank you all for your prompt replies.

Entering the EU will not be a problem as I have a residence permit for my home country.

Often1

Some incorrect information in this thread.

As a USN, you can't be denied entry to the US. Whether a federal quarantine applies is a matter of the specific country (and possibly routing) which you took to get to the US. Thus, "Europe" is not alone a determinant. If a quarantine does apply, it is for no more than 14 days, e.g., you can leave the US in 1-13 days as well. Quarantine does not mean being held in a government facility, it means self-isolating so that you do not transmit the virus if you have it (symptomatic or not).

One generic set of limitations from TIMATIC (which will vary depending on your country of residence and routing):

Warning:
- Passengers who have been in Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China
(People's Rep.), Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,
Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland (Rep.),
Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland or United Kingdom (excluding
overseas territories outside of Europe) in the past 14 days
but are exempt from the restriction to enter the USA, must
self-quarantine for 14 days once they reach their final
destination.

On return to your origination country in Europe you may also be subject to quarantine and should look at what that means carefully, e.g. staying at home vs. checking in with the health authorities and random visits.

Duck1981

As Often1 mentioned, quarantine restrictions in Europe vary in terms of enforcement: My quarantine in the UK was not checked at all, whilst Austria is well known for actually enforcing the self quarantine with home visits and calls (and someone got recently 3 months on probation for walking a dog during quarantine)

hotturnip

I agree with others. I don't think the U.S. is going to be an issue with your U.S. passport. I would check thoroughly, however, with your European country of residence about re-entry, especially with a live animal. Two whole sets of regulations to deal with, one for you and the other for the animal.

MSPeconomist

There was a discussion here recently (maybe in the big USA state restrictions thread here in this forum?) about whether a fourteen day quarantine means that you must stay for fourteen days. The conclusion seemed to be no, since most of the actual executive orders specified fourteen days or the duration of your visit to a state, but surprisingly the rules for New York don't have this language.

OP should try to find the actual quarantine and other (stay at home, etc. as applicable) orders for Washington State and any connections along the way. It might be wise to print the actual rule from the state's website and carry a couple copies.

dick_badcock

Thank you again to all posters. I will land in ORD initially, but am allowed to continue to my final destination (SEA) for self-isolation there. The following day I will fly direct to Germany from SEA. I will of course need to quarantine upon arrival as well. Animal rules have been confirmed as ok to go.

I have looked at the WA state health dept homepage, but didn't really find anything. I will update if I find anything.

MSPeconomist

Have you checked the rules for Illinois/Chicago carefully? They're starting to limit people from certain other states (forbid or quarantine?), so there might be an issue when you enter the USA there. Can we assume that this is the same ticket/PNR rather than technically having ORD as one of your destinations? [I've been trying to find and watch the exact rules since at the moment it's not clear to me that I can drive to Chicago through Wisconsin, nor that I could visit NYC and Chicago without fourteen days between them spent elsewhere.]

Jonny11788

Chicago's restrictions do not apply to international arrivals (only those coming from designated states), nor do they apply to those connecting in ORD/MDW, so those shouldn't be an issue for OP. Not that there seems to have been much active enforcement of these rules here so far, as far as I'm aware.

As to your question, my understanding is yes, you can drive through Wisconsin en route to Chicago from MN without violating these requirements, so long as you don't spend more than 24 hours in Wisconsin. That according to the city's FAQ here, from the "Travel" section: https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/site...vel-order.html