By now, the news is everywhere.
In the past year, according to the U.S. State Department, at least eight American tourists have died after falling ill in Dominican Republic resorts — and dozens more have gotten sick. The incidents have garnered widespread media coverage, causing many Americans to rethink their travel plans.
But despite the rash of illnesses, the U.S. State Department has not issued an elevated travel advisory for the island nation — and the agency says in a statement that they “have not seen an uptick” in deaths despite the media coverage.
“We are closely monitoring ongoing investigations by Dominican authorities into several recent deaths of U.S. citizens in the Dominican Republic,” the statement says. “We have no higher priority than the safety and welfare of U.S. citizens abroad.”
“Millions of Americans travel to the Dominican Republic every year,” the statement continues. “Speaking generally, we have not seen an uptick in the number of US citizen deaths reported to the Department. While the overwhelming majority travel without incident, we want to assure all Americans that we continue to work actively with the Dominican authorities at the very highest levels to ensure that U.S. citizens are safe and feel safe while in the Dominican Republic.”
In April 2019, the department rated the Dominican Republic a level 2 for safety on a scale where 1 is the safest and 4 is the most dangerous. The rating means visitors should “exercise increased caution due to crime.” In the weeks of intense media scrutiny following the deaths of Americans, there has been no change to the rating.
The FBI has agents in on the island and are investigating the deaths of at least six of the tourists who have died since the summer of 2018. Some of them passed away in what appear to be bizarre — and similar — circumstances. The agencies are not yet releasing further details about the investigations.
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Robin Bernstein, the ambassador of the United States to the Dominican Republic, told Univision these high-profile incidents should not be considered anything more than isolated cases. “We have 2.7 million Americans who come to the country and the statistics is that this is a very … unique event,” Bernstein said in a statement. “They come to visit the beautiful beaches and enjoy the great culture. Unfortunately sometimes those things happen to people.”
A spokesperson at the U.S. State Department tells PEOPLE that they will continue to monitor the situation, and will issue an elevated warning “if and when necessary.”
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