NEW YORK (AP) – Anyone flying to the U.S. must soon provide evidence of a negative test for COVID-19, health officials announced Tuesday.
The disease control and prevention requirements extend to a similar one announced late last month for passengers arriving from the UK. The new order will take effect in two weeks.
COVID is already widespread in the US, with more than 22 million cases to date, including more than 375,000 deaths. The new measures are designed to prevent travelers from introducing newer forms of the virus that scientists say could spread more easily.
The CDC order applies to U.S. citizens as well as foreign travelers. The agency said it had postponed the effective date to January 26 to give airlines and travelers time to comply.
International travel to the US has already been delayed by pandemic restrictions imposed last March, which banned most foreigners from Europe and other areas. The airlines group Airlines for America decreased by 76% in December with foreigners to the US and Americans to international destinations.
The new restrictions require air passengers to take a COVID-19 test within three days of their flight to the US and to provide the airline with the test result in writing. Travelers can also provide documentation that they have had and recovered from the infection in the past.
Airlines are advised to prevent passengers from boarding if they do not have proof of a negative test.
“Testing does not eliminate all risk,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said in a statement. “But combined with a period of staying home and everyday precautions such as wearing masks and social distance, it can make travel safer, healthier and more responsible by reducing the spread on planes, airports and destinations.”
The CDC order is a reasonable approach to reduce the risk of new variants from abroad in the US, says dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health.
It is likely that the recently identified version of the virus from the UK “is likely to be in every state or in most countries. It is not going to do anything about it, “Jha said. So far, ten states have reported 72 cases of the variant.
But the new order could stop, or reduce, the spread of other new versions of the virus, such as one recently identified in South Africa.
“I can imagine other countries ahead of us,” he added.
Airlines have worked for pre-flight tests to replace broad travel restrictions between the US and the rest of the world. In some cases, they have arranged for passengers to avoid quarantines after their arrival by being tested before their flight.
Testing “is the key to unlocking international borders and securely reopening global travel,” said Nicole Carriere, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, one of the three largest U.S. airlines flying to Europe and Asia.
Others believe that the CDC order is unlikely to cause an immediate increase in international travel.
“People are being encouraged by their public health authorities not to travel, not even inland,” said Henry Hartevedlt, a travel analyst at Atmosphere Research Group.
He does not expect the air travel to pick up until the summer when more people are vaccinated.
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Koenig reported from Dallas
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