Lessons from COVID-19: Managing Borders in the Next Global Public-Health Crisis
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Highlights
COVID-19 gave rise to a complex web of mobility restrictions and exemptions, yet governments moved on without extracting key lessons. Several principles can make border management smarter next time.
- COVID-19 triggered the largest global mobility shutdown in modern history: international tourism fell by nearly three-quarters in 2020 and legal migration to OECD countries dropped 46 percent in the first half of the year.
- Travel restrictions proved most effective when imposed early and paired with domestic measures, but in most countries the virus had already spread before borders closed—and many measures stayed in place far longer than evidence supported.
- The shift from country-based bans to person-based requirements such as vaccination or testing was a positive step, but measures were often inequitable, burdening vulnerable groups and diverting some people into irregular channels.
- Governments should inventory pandemic-era digital and physical infrastructure, develop regional mobility playbooks, and embed mobility into preparedness frameworks before political will fades further.
In March 2020, the global mobility system shut down in previously unimaginable ways. As COVID-19 cases multiplied, governments closed borders and introduced sweeping travel restrictions, entry bans, and suspensions of asylum and refugee resettlement. These policies evolved over time, giving rise to a complex web of mobility restrictions, conditions, and exemptions for certain groups, with undeniable consequences for societies and economies around the world.
Four years on, migration has returned to the pre-pandemic norm, but governments should not forget the costs of unplanned, long-lasting, and stringent travel restrictions. This is a key moment to examine the pandemic’s lingering impacts on mobility as well as to build a bench of evidence-based tools to manage mobility during future public-health crises. This brief highlights the importance of mobility measures that are clear, equitable, streamlined, and prepared to adapt to future challenges.
This capstone brief concludes a series of studies by MPI’s Task Force on Mobility and Borders during and after COVID-19 that explores opportunities to improve international coordination regarding border management during public-health crises. Regional case studies in this series look at Asia and the Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, and South America. Its thematic studies consider the role of digital health credentials in facilitating movement, the use of risk analysis to shape border policies, and the rise of remote work and “digital nomads.”
Table of Contents
1 Introduction
2 COVID-19 and the Mobility Shutdown
3 Lessons for Policymakers
A. Restricting Travel during Public-Health Emergencies
B. Mitigating the Risks and Costs of Travel Measures
C. Preparing for Future Emergencies
4 Conclusion
About the Global Program
The Global Program bridges policy advice, research, and candid dialogue to design effective migration policies, drawing on global evidence and anticipating the forces reshaping how people move.
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