U.S. Considers Covid-19 Tests For Domestic Air Travel

U.S. Considers Covid-19 Tests For Domestic Air Travel

Any international arrival landing in the U.S. must have evidence of a negative Covid-19 test, taken no more than 72 hours before departure, including U.S. residents.

In addition, there are reports that President Biden is deciding whether to bring in the same mandatory tests for domestic flights; a move that has met with numerous objections from people in the travel industry.

At the moment, domestic air passengers have to acknowledge, via an online questionnaire, that they aren’t showing or feeling any symptoms of Covid-19, but no tests are necessary. As reported by USA Today, additional checks take place at some airports and with some carriers; Frontier take temperature checks of boarding passengers and Los Angeles airport screens passengers.

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However, with infection rates of Covid-19 at seriously high levels and new variants of the virus increasing transmission through communities, the Biden administration is considering any and all measures to slow the speed and spread of the virus. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC's Division of Global Migration and Quarantine told reporters that “we are actively looking at it.”

It is unclear who would police a domestic Covid-19 testing requirement (airlines are responsible for checking the requirement for international travelers) although Hawaii offers some indication of how it could work. Since October 2020, arrivals from mainland U.S. have needed a negative Covid-19 test in order to bypass quarantine.

The travel industry was quick to respond, as reported by CNBC. The U.S. Travel Association, which represents Airbnb, large hotel chains and airports called the plan “unworkable” because testing varies so dramatically across the country and many industry professionals fear that it would further preclude people from traveling. CEO Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines said, “why pick on air travel?” and not demand a negative test before people visit the grocery store, the restaurant or a sports event.

However, airline analyst, Savanthi Syth believes that on the plus side, whilst demand for domestic travel might decrease in the short term, a requirement for testing on domestic flights might convince more Americans to get vaccinated in the longer term.