Americans with 2 doses of COVID vaccine can travel, says CDC

After a year defined by turbulence and interruptions, this week brought tempting samples of what was once considered normal.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their travel guidelines on Friday to allow people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 to travel within the United States and abroad, as long as they continue to take precautions such as wearing a mask. Those traveling internally no longer need to be quarantined on arrival or to obtain a negative test before or after their departure.

A few hours later, California reformulated its reopening plan to outline the eventual resumption of events and indoor performances.

And Los Angeles and Orange counties, two of the largest in California, were released a few days ago to further ease some of the pandemic-related restrictions that have long shaken their economies.

Taken together, this week’s developments point to a future that has long seemed distant and uncertain – one in which the path of coronavirus destruction is dramatically reduced and eventually completely eliminated.

But these signs of hope come at an uncertain time, when there is reason for hope, as an increasing number of Americans are vaccinated against COVID-19, and growing fear, as the number of coronavirus cases increases across the country.

“This disease is not taking away the Easter weekend. This disease is not taking off in the spring, ”said Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday during a news conference in San Diego. “This disease is more deadly than ever.”

Even the CDC’s most recent travel guidance was a double-edged sword – certainly good news for people who were kept separated from their loved ones in the midst of the pandemic, but expressed with extreme caution.

“While we believe that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk for themselves, the CDC is not recommending travel at this time, due to the growing number of cases,” said agency director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky during a briefing Friday.

She herself recognized the apparent contradiction.

“On the one hand, we are telling you that we are concerned with increasing cases, wearing a mask and avoiding travel. However, on the other hand, we are saying that if you are vaccinated, the evolution of the data suggests that traveling is probably less risky, ”she said.

These seemingly conflicting messages from health officials have been frustrating and, at times, lashing out.

However, this is expected when dealing with a new virus, according to Dr. Muntu Davis, Los Angeles County health officer.

“This is naturally what happens in a pandemic,” he said on Friday. “As you start to see how the virus acts, as you start to see when you have new countermeasures, be it vaccines or treatments, then we start to learn more. But until we have this information, we have to act very carefully, because everyone is at risk ”.

For example, there is growing evidence that available vaccines can be highly effective in reducing coronavirus transmission – which could help inform public health measures in the future.

“Vaccinated people have a much lower risk of spreading the virus, but it is not a watertight guarantee that they cannot be infected or that they cannot transmit it,” said Andrew Noymer, associate professor of public health at UC Irvine.

According to the new CDC guidelines, fully vaccinated people who are traveling internationally do not need to be tested for COVID-19 before leaving the United States, unless their destination requires them to do so, and they do not need to be quarantined upon arrival to the country, federal health officials said. However, all air passengers arriving in the USA must have a negative coronavirus test, no later than three days before the date of travel.

The CDC also recommends that international travelers take the test three to five days after their trip.

Domestic travelers who are fully vaccinated – meaning that two weeks have passed since the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or their only Johnson & Johnson injection – do not need to be quarantined when they arrive at their destination and “do not need to do the test before or after the trip, unless the destination requires, ”according to the CDC.

This could happen in California, where the state claims that “non-essential travelers from other states or countries, regardless of the COVID-19 vaccination status, are strongly discouraged.”

On Thursday, California suspended its statement asking leisure travelers to stay 120 miles from home. But health officials still recommend that all travelers take the test one to three days before starting their travels; and that non-essential travelers take the test three to five days after arriving in California, as well as self-quarantine for seven full days after travel, even if the test is negative.

The state travel advisory also says that non-essential travelers who do not take the test should be quarantined for 10 days after travel.

In a statement, the California Department of Public Health said it “is constantly reviewing the science, data and evidence, as well as evaluating the CDC’s recommendations for updating our guidelines” and has pledged to notify the public of any changes to state advisory services. , if and when they occur.

The CDC’s travel guidance is one of the most substantial updates ever seen, said Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious disease specialist at the University of California at San Francisco.

But loosening some restrictions does not mean that the danger has completely evaporated.

“All you need is for everyone to start acting like they’re on spring break in South Beach,” said Rutherford.

Health officials have long warned against unnecessary or recreational travel, saying that such travel could fuel a new outbreak of coronavirus.

This is a particularly pressing concern in California, which has seen a steady improvement in its coronavirus metrics, even as other states are beginning to experience worrying increases.

CDC figures show that California’s last seven-day case rate per 100,000 people, 43.9, is the third lowest of all states and well below the national rate of 134.4.

In comparison, the highest recent rates were recorded in Michigan, with 411.1 cases per 100,000 people; and New Jersey, 366.4.

In the same period, comparable rates were 353.6 in New York City; 256.7 in the rest of the state of New York; 222.7 in Pennsylvania; 168.4 in Florida; and 76.5 in Texas.

Noymer believes that while this context has not always been at the forefront of CDC messages, the most recent guidelines on loosening restrictions do not seem premature. At least not for California.

“If you look at the world through California sunglasses, things are still pretty good,” he said, referring to the state’s low transmission rate.

But he added: “There is no guarantee”.

As more and more people are vaccinated, however, the conversation is increasingly turning to which additional activities could be resumed soon.

From April 15, California will allow indoor live events to resume with limitations, which means an imminent return of things like concerts and theatrical performances that have long been off limits.

Under the new state guidance released on Friday, these types of activities would remain subject to capacity limits and other security changes. However, participation limits would be increased if all guests at a given event had taken the COVID-19 test or could prove that they were fully vaccinated.

“By following public health guidelines, such as wearing masks and being vaccinated when eligible, we can resume additional activities as we take steps to reduce the risk,” said Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, in a statement. communicated.

To date, 32% of Californians have received at least one dose of vaccine, CDC data show, and nearly 19 million doses have been administered across the state.

However, only about 16.8% of Californians have been fully vaccinated to date.

As conversations about vaccine passports or a process to verify vaccinations increase, an unfailing plan to determine who meets the vaccine’s requirements will be crucial, said Rutherford.

The urgency to reopen further in California and elsewhere arises as more people are vaccinated, putting pressure on lawmakers to ease restrictions, according to Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, head of the epidemiology and biostatistics department at the University School of Medicine of California in San Francisco.

But while supply and distribution have steadily increased, she noted that pockets of inequality continue to exist in the state.

At the federal level, however, there is optimism that the nation will have a sufficient supply of COVID-19 vaccine to accommodate all willing adults in late spring.

How many more Americans will be infected, need hospitalization or die from the disease in the months before the broad immunization is an open question, however – and an official said it should be a bugle call for everyone to remain vigilant.

“The reality is that the act of traveling and the act of mixing people leads to these peaks,” said Bibbins-Domingo. “I am not suggesting that it is a wrong decision – I am suggesting that reading that decision and saying, ‘We are out of danger’ would be dangerous reading.”