The CDC decision was important and overdue, said Dr. Health experts said the end of the testing requirement - combined with the lifting of other pandemic-related travel mandates - signals a new phase in which individuals will increasingly have to make their own determinations about safety. Death counts have been volatile in recent weeks but remain below 400 per day on average. Infections, though, are thought to be widely undercounted, as at-home test results are often not officially reported and many people with no or mild symptoms may not test at all. New confirmed cases in the United States have been roughly flat at around 110,000 a day on average as of Thursday over the past two weeks, according to a New York Times database, after rising from lower than 30,000 a few months ago. White House officials described the decision as a validation of the president's efforts to aggressively combat the virus. Some people who did not want to wait that long used a "backdoor" route, returning home via land borders with Canada and Mexico, which do not require a coronavirus test.įor President Joe Biden, the decision to drop the requirement is welcome news at a time that the administration is struggling on a series of fronts. The CDC recommends travelers isolate and delay travel for 10 days regardless of symptoms or a negative test taken within the isolation period. The testing requirement was also unpopular with many travelers, who faced the prospect of getting stuck overseas after testing positive. The administration's mask mandate, which required all passengers on planes and other forms of public transport to wear masks, was struck down in April by a federal judge appointed by former President Donald Trump. Previously, a test taken within three days was required. In December 2021, amid heightened concerns about the omicron variant, the CDC tightened the rule by requiring that travelers present a negative test taken within 24 hours of departure. The testing requirement was first introduced in January 2021, when fewer than 10% of Americans were vaccinated and new infections were reaching record levels. "The Biden administration is to be commended for this action, which will welcome back visitors from around the world and accelerate the recovery of the U.S. "Today marks another huge step forward for the recovery of inbound air travel and the return of international travel to the United States," said Roger Dow, chief executive of the U.S. Travel Association, a trade group, projects that dropping the testing requirement will bring 5.4 million additional international visitors to the United States and $9 billion in additional travel spending through the end of the year. The hard-hit travel industry is already in the middle of a comeback, but Casto said he believed dropping the mandate would lead to double-digit percentage increases in the number of people flying and staying in hotels abroad. The decision was met with joy in the travel industry, which for months has been lobbying the administration hard to get rid of the testing rule. nationals, lawful permanent residents or traveling to the United States on an immigrant visa must still show proof of vaccination before boarding their flight. On Friday, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the administration decided to lift the requirement Sunday at 12:01 a.m., after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials determined that the widespread adoption of vaccines and treatments for covid-19 no longer make it necessary.Īmerican travelers had held off on overseas vacation plans because of the mandate, worried that they would be stuck in foreign countries if they discovered they were infected and would be forced to pay thousands of dollars in hotel fees and other expenses, said Marc Casto, chair of the board of the American Society of Travel Advisors, a trade group.Ĭonversely, international travelers to the United States faced the uncertainty of testing positive before their trips began. International travelers will no longer need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding flights to the United States, a senior Biden administration official said Friday, ending one of the nation's last pandemic-related travel requirements.
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