An official at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Tuesday that restrictions requiring travelers to test COVID-19 negative before flying internally in the U.S. are being seriously considered.
Reuters reported that the head of the CDC’s Global Migration and Quarantine Division said in a call with reporters that the agency is “actively seeking” to tighten restrictions amid new variants of the COVID-19 virus spreading in parts of the world and now being reported in the US
There are “conversations going on about what types and test locations they can be,” said Marty Cetron, according to the news service. “We are actively looking into this.”
The United States implemented a policy on Tuesday requiring international travelers to test negative for COVID-19 before arriving in the United States. There are no current national restrictions on domestic travel, although the CDC has advised for months that non-essential travel should be avoided. Some locations, including Washington, DC, require travelers to test negative before arriving.
“The test does not eliminate all risks,” said the Director of the CDC Robert Redfield
Robert RedfieldCDC receives a second opinion: Seven steps to cure our response COVID-19 Pence delivers report from the coronavirus task force to the Biden Health Center overnight: Limited testing capacity as localities struggle with vaccine staff | Health workers refuse vaccine is growing problem | CDC’s new director expects 500,000 COVID deaths by mid-February MORE Last week. “But, when combined with a period of stay at home and daily precautions such as wearing masks and social distance, it can make travel safer, healthier and more responsible, reducing the spread on planes, airports and destinations.”
The United States remains a hotspot for the COVID-19 outbreak, with more cases than any other country. More than 26 million cases have been reported across the country, as well as 425,000 related deaths.