FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Air travelers to U.S. set to face tougher COVID-19 testing

Dec 2, 2021 | 8:24 am

#81

Hannibal Lecter

Join Date: Oct 2009

Posts: 5,045

No PCR test and no post-arrival testing or quarantine requirements...

Via Teleconference (December 1, 2021) 7:38 P.M. EST

Josh Wingrove at Bloomberg.
Q Can you say whether you considered doing PCR tests as opposed to a one-day window per antigen test? Some countries, of course, require a PCR test for arrival.
It — was that something you thought about? And if not, why not, given that there are questions, of course, as to the — whether all antigen tests can pick up Omicron? Thank you.

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah. Josh, that’s a good question. So the CDC, really — they did look at this.
They looked at the question of: How do you tighten these testing requirements?
And I think on (inaudible) they came out on what we’re doing, obviously, in their recommendation, which is to tighten the timeline and not necessarily the type of test.

I will tell you that we are continuously looking and the FDA is looking at the efficacy of these tests against — of all tests — against the Omicron variant.
And if we were to find that a test didn’t work, we would certainly take it off our list of accepted tests for international travel.

But, so far, we haven’t seen that.

Sabrina Siddiqui at the Wall Street Journal.

Q Can you confirm that — if you’re also considering any post-arrival testing or quarantine requirements for international travel, what those might look like and how you would enforce them if you are, in fact,
thinking about putting in place some kind of post-arrival testing mechanism and also a quarantine period?

SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Yeah, thanks, Sabrina. So we’re not announcing any steps on post-arrival testing and quarantine.

I will reiterate just — I think what it was — is already a pretty strong system we have in place and which we are strengthening: All travelers — foreign travelers need to be vaccinated,
tested before they depart and masked, obviously, on the plane. And then we are tightening that window for all travelers, all nationalities, all departure places to one day prior to their departure rather than three.

I will say — look, if additional measures are recommended, if additional measures can be implemented well and are effective, we won’t hesitate to take them, but we’re not taking them today.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-...s-this-winter/

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