kmersh

I am not really sure anything will change until the Administration wants it to change. I was talking with the son of a neighbor who is visiting his parents. He works at USAMRIID (United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease) and he was saying that not many folks at USAMRIID feel that a INTL Testing Requirement does not do any good at all. (I should point out though I am not sure it makes a difference, USAMRIID and the CDC have a tense relationship since the CDC shut down some of the Bio-Safety Level 4 facilities for a period time at USAMRIID).

He said there is no way that an INTL testing requirement will keep out the virus nor it its variants, it is wishful thinking to believe that it will keep infected people off the aircraft and then there is the administration which is being left the airlines and not every employee is going to be 100% diligent in their checks.

In his opinion (as a Virologist) the single best thing the Government can do is work with the various vaccine manufacturers to refine the vaccine so that it works for a longer period of time and has broader coverage. He said antivirals that can be orally administered in the home is also important, but testing requirements are just in a sense hygiene theatre (but he does feel that the Administration and the CDC are coming from a good place).

With regards to Rubio, he may or may not make a stink about the INTL testing requirement, but I doubt it will make a difference, for whatever reason the Administration and the CDC feel it is beneficial and I do not seem them bowing to pressure, no matter how much I would like them to do so.

Heck just the other day the CDC recommended folks should take a test before a domestic flight, this does not sound to me like they are throwing in the towel and bowing to pressure.