Ireland's Health Service Executive announced last week that on 20 July 2020 it will publish a "green list" of countries from which travelers visiting Ireland - or Irish residents returning - will not be required to restrict their movements in Ireland for 14 days upon arrival.

Currently, most people arriving in Ireland from another country - including Irish citizens, persons with no COVID-19 symptoms, and those who have tested negative outside Ireland - are required for 14 days (or for duration of stay, if shorter) not to:

• Use public transport
• Visit others
• Meet face-to-face any persons at higher risk from COVID-19, including:
  • Persons over age 60
  • Organ transplant recipients
  • Persons undergoing chemotherapy for cancer
  • Persons suffering from any of a long list of medical conditions
  • Persons taking certain medications
  • Obese persons
  • Nursing-home residents
  • The learning-disabled
  • More...
• Go shopping unless absolutely necessary, and if you do, wear a face covering

The only exceptions are:

• Persons arriving from NI
• Persons arriving from a "green list" country
• Aircraft crew in Ireland for work
• Truck drivers for work
• Ship master and crew for work

The "green list" will; be updated every 2 weeks.

And the Health Service Executive advises friends and family of arriving travelers:

"Family and friends arriving from a green list country should be treated as visitors. This means you should follow social distancing and other public health guidelines. You should not interact with them in the same way as the people in your household that you live with every day."

Will Ireland's "green list" match that of the EU? If so, Ireland may not be seeing Americans anytime soon.

(But we've heard that some Americans are in fact getting into Ireland by flying into Belfast and crossing the border in rented cars.)