Americans fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can travel safely domestically and abroad, as long as they take basic precautions such as wearing masks, federal health officials announced Friday, a long-awaited change from the government’s harsh warnings that saved many millions. home for the past year.
In announcing the change at a White House news conference, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials stressed that they prefer people to avoid travel. But they said increasing evidence of the true effectiveness of the vaccines – given to more than 100 million Americans – suggested that vaccinated people could do so at low risk for themselves.
The shift in the official stance of the CDC comes at a time of hope and danger in the pandemic. The rate of vaccinations has increased rapidly in the country, and the number of deaths has decreased.
Yet cases in many states are increasing significantly as new variants of the coronavirus spread across the country. Just last Monday, dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the CDC director, warned of a possible fourth wave if states and cities continued to relax public health restrictions, telling reporters she was facing imminent doom.
Some public health experts were surprised by Friday’s announcement and expressed concern that the government was sending confusing signals to the public.
“It’s a mixture of ‘please do not travel’, at the same time it facilitates the journey for a subgroup of people,” said dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of epidemiology and medicine at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, said. ‘I think it’s very confusing and is contrary to the message we heard earlier this week, to’ keep quiet ‘,’ hold on ‘,’ be patient. “And it worries me. Messages about public health should be very clear, very consistent and it should be very simple. ”
Dr. Walensky apparently acknowledged the seemingly mixed messages during Friday’s news conference. ‘‘According to science, you can do more things safely if you are fully vaccinated, and it is important for us to provide this guidance, even in the context of increasing cases,’ she said.
The travel industry welcomed the new guideline, hoping it could be the start of a fortune for airlines, hotels and tourist destinations, which have suffered increasing losses for more than a year.
“As travel returns, U.S. jobs return,” Roger Dow, chief executive of the American Travel Association, an industry group, said in a statement.
Federal officials have remained adamant that people who are not fully vaccinated should not travel at all, a position widely supported by public health experts.
“If you are fully vaccinated, you can return to travel, but if this is not the case, there are still many viruses circulating and it is still a risky undertaking. You must postpone it until you are vaccinated or the situation improves, “Caitlin said. Rivers, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
If people who have not been vaccinated should travel, the CDC recommends that they be tested for coronavirus infection one to three days before their trip and again three to five days after it has passed. The agency said they should be quarantined seven days after a trip if they are tested and ten days if they are not tested.
People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two weeks after receiving the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna shot. Some 58 million people in the U.S., 22 percent of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures from the CDC
Scientists are not yet sure if vaccines, even short-lived, can become infected and transmit the virus to others. A recent CDC study suggested that such cases may be rare, but until the question is resolved, many public health officials feel it is unwise to tell vaccinated Americans simply to do what they want. They say it is important that all vaccinated people continue to wear masks, distance themselves socially and take other precautions.
Under the new CDC leadership, vaccinated Americans traveling within the country do not have to be tested for the coronavirus or follow quarantine procedures at the destination or after returning home. If they travel abroad, they only need to get a coronavirus test or quarantine if the country they are going to need it.
However, the guidance says that they must undergo a negative coronavirus test before returning to the United States on the flight, and they must be tested again three to five days after their return.
The recommendation is based on the idea that vaccines can still become infected with the virus. The CDC also cited a lack of vaccine coverage in other countries, and concerns about the possible introduction and spread of new variants of the virus that occur more overseas.
Most states have accelerated their timelines for opening vaccinations for all adults, as the rate of vaccinations has increased across the country. According to information reported by the CDC, an average of almost three million shots were fired per day as of Friday.
The new advice contributes to CDC recommendations issued in early March, saying that fully vaccinated people may congregate in small groups in private institutions without taking off masks or social distances, and that they go out with unvaccinated individuals can visit a single household, as long as they have a low risk of developing. serious disease if infected with the virus.
Travel is already increasing nationwide as the weather warms and Americans grow tired of pandemic restrictions. Last Sunday was the busiest day at domestic airports since the pandemic began. According to the Transportation Security Administration, nearly 1.6 million people passed through security checkpoints at U.S. airports.
But the operations are far from over. The pandemic has also shown large and small businesses that their employees can often work just as productively to work remotely as in face-to-face meetings. As a result, the airline and hotel industry expects it to take years before lucrative corporate travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, leaving a gaping hole in revenue.
And while leisure travel within the United States will gradually recover, airlines expect it to last until 2023 or 2024 before passenger volumes reach 2019, according to Airlines for America, an industry group. The industry lost more than $ 35 billion last year and continues to lose tens of millions of dollars every day.
Many countries, including those in the European Union, still prevent most Americans from coming. Some start making exceptions for those who are vaccinated. With effect from March 26, Americans who are fully vaccinated and who can provide proof of vaccination, for example, can visit Iceland, thus avoiding restrictions such as testing and quarantine, the country’s government said.
The CDC also issued more detailed technical instructions for cruise lines on Thursday, requiring them to take steps to develop vaccination strategies and make plans for routine testing of crew members and daily reporting of Covid-19 cases before simulating test runs of trips can carry out volunteers, before taking on real passengers. The CDC’s directives recognize that taking voyages “will always involve a risk of Covid-19 transmission.”
Some destinations and intersections have already begun to require travelers to be fully vaccinated. The Royal Caribbean cruise line requires passengers and crew members 18 years of age or older to be vaccinated to board its ships, as well as Virgin Voyages, Crystal Cruises and others.
At present, airlines do not require travel vaccinations. But there has been a lot of talk in the industry about the idea.
Niraj Chokshi reported.