WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Nearly all air travelers will be required to pass a negative coronavirus test to enter the United States under extensive testing test requirements announced Tuesday.
Under regulations effective January 26, nearly all travelers, including U.S. citizens, must show a negative test within three days of departure or documentation of recovery from COVID-19, under an order signed by the director of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Robert Redfield.
All travelers 2 years of age and older must comply, except those traveling through the United States alone. The CDC will also consider waiving testing requirements for airlines flying to countries with little or no testing capacity, including some places in the Caribbean.
The order dramatically broadens a requirement imposed on December 28 on travelers arriving from the UK as a more transmissible variant of the virus circulating there.
In an interview, Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s global migration and quarantine division, said, “We really need to be on the forefront … We need to take these mutations seriously.”
Canada imposed similar rules for nearly all international arrivals starting January 7, as did many other countries.
The CDC confirmed last week that it had circulated a proposal to expand the testing requirement after weeks of deliberation on the idea. Some senior White House officials were against it, and officials briefed on the matter said last week that U.S. public health officials had essentially given up seeking approval until President-elect Joe Biden took office.
At a meeting at the White House on Monday, Redfield made another urgent case to pass the testing requirements, people said of the meeting. He was concerned that vaccines might not be effective against virus variants.
Airlines for America, an industry group, praised the test plan. Airlines also wanted a ban lifted for most non-US visitors who have recently been to Brazil and most of Europe, but the White House chose not to end it.
Cetron said the access restrictions “should be actively reconsidered”.
Cetron confirmed that the CDC has discussed the idea of extending the test requirement to domestic flights in the US, but stressed that the new order only applies to international flights.
Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese, Dan Grebler and Cynthia Osterman