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COVID-19 tests now required for all international flyers destined for the USA
From January 26, the CDC will require universal COVID testing for all passengers on international flights to the U.S.
USA TODAY
The Department of Homeland Security announced via tweet Friday that the United States, Canada and Mexico have agreed to keep their land borders closed until at least March 21.
“To protect our citizens and prevent the spread of COVID-19, the United States, Canada and Mexico are extending restrictions on non-essential travel across our land borders until March 21,” said the DHS tweet. “We are also working to ensure that essential trade and travel remains open.”
March 21 marks the one-year anniversary of the initial border closure, which occurred when the coronavirus pandemic gained momentum in the United States. The closures, which apply to all land and sea borders, have been extended every month since then. Technically, Americans can still fly to either country, although Canada has made that option more difficult.
“These measures will last as long as we think they need to,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, when the border closure was announced. In October, he reiterated that point, saying that his country’s southern border would not be reopened until the United States had its COVID-19 case numbers under control.
Since then, Canada has tightened restrictions even further, requiring people entering the U.S. to prove that they are traveling for an essential purpose and to be quarantined for 14 days after arrival. Canada started demanding a negative COVID-19 test for anyone arriving by plane.
More than 28.1 million people tested positive for COVID-19 in the USA and nearly 500,000 died, according to data from USA TODAY.
The number of cases has dropped since a peak in early January, largely attributed to holidays.
The United States reports less than 500,000 new cases of coronavirus a week, returning to a level not seen since late October, shows a USA TODAY analysis of Johns Hopkins University data.
The 489,902 cases recorded in the week ending Sunday are less than a third of the peak rate seen in July. However, it is more than twice the rate of new cases seen since the beginning of the last increase.
The United States reported 13,106 COVID-19 deaths in the week ending Sunday, with an average of 78 Americans dying every hour. At its worst last month, the country recorded 140 deaths per hour.
The University of Washington Institute of Health Metrics and Assessment (IHME) projects that 589,197 Americans will have died by the end of May. The good news is that the institute projects that deaths could drop to less than 500 a day by then, and the number may be even lower if Americans are vigilant about wearing masks, which are required on federal lands (including national parks) ) and public transport, including commercial airlines, trains and buses.
For comparison, Canada, which had an accumulated total number of 843,301 cases and 21,630 deaths, according to the World Health Organization, had less than 30,000 new cases and less than 1,000 deaths per week in February.
The WHO found that Mexico, which had more than 2 million cases, is decreasing, with less than 75,000 new cases per week in February. Its mortality rate remained at more than 7,500 deaths per week this month, adding up to an accumulated total of 179,797.
Contributing: Ken Alltucker, John Bacon, Jordan Culver and Michael Stucka