I think, it's a bit less arbitrary and the reverse of what you said. The criterias are the daily number of infections (comparable or less than the EU mean), th

I think, it's a bit less arbitrary and the reverse of what you said. The criterias are the daily number of infections (comparable or less than the EU mean), the testing capability to actually estimate the infections, and the rate of change in infections (past the inflection point). AFAIK, the covid-19 response in the US as a whole fails on each account. Possibly due to the reasons you cited. Finally, the restrictions are reciprocal. Probably not pertinent in this case.