Last edit by: NewbieRunner
New thread for discussing 1-day test requirements for travellers arriving in the US by air
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/coronavirus-travel/2060730-us-require-air-travelers-provide-negative-test-within-1-day-departure.html
Entry ban from eight southern African countries starting on November 29, 2021
Most non-U.S. citizens who have been in South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique or Malaw within the prior 14 days will not be allowed into the United States.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/11/26/a-proclamation-on-suspension-of-entry-as-immigrants-and-nonimmigrants-of-certain-additional-persons-who-pose-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease-2019/
Entry ban by air to be lifted on November 8, 2021 - All travelers should refer to CDC for travel requirements.
3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue (US citizens/LPR not vaccinated will have to test no earlier than 1 day prior) Children under 2 years old do not need to test.
Children under 18 are exempt from vaccination requirement
Accepted vaccines will include:
- AstraZeneca
- BIBP/Sinopharm
- Covishield
- Janssen/J&J
- Moderna
- Pfizer-BioNTech
- Sinovac
There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old
Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases
Update on U.S. travel policy requiring COVID-19 vaccination
Last Updated: October 25, 2021
As announced by the White House today, the new travel policy requiring foreign nationals traveling to the United States to demonstrate proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 will take effect November 8. The CDC’s website explains that, for purposes of entry into the United States, the accepted vaccines will include FDA approved or authorized and WHO Emergency Use Listing vaccines.
COVID-19 Travel Restrictions and Exceptions - U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs
Last updated: October 25, 2021
The presidential proclamations described on this page will no longer be in effect on November 8, 2021. For additional information, please see Safely Resuming Travel by Vaccine Requirement and Rescission of Travel Restrictions on Brazil, China, India, Iran, Ireland, the Schengen Area, South Africa, and the United Kingdom (travel.state.gov).
To protect the public health, there are four presidential proclamations that suspend entry into the United States of all noncitizens who were physically present in any of 33 countries during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States. They are Presidential Proclamation 9984 (China); Presidential Proclamation 9992 (Iran); Presidential Proclamation 10143 (Schengen Area, United Kingdom, Ireland, Brazil, and South Africa); and Presidential Proclamation 10199 (India).
What we know so far is
- Confirmed to start on 8 November
- Children under 18 are exempt from the vaccine restrictions, so the varying international standards on jab ages won't be an issue here.
- Vaccines that are OK will include Pfizer, Moderna, AZ, J&J and the two Chinese vaccines.
- Some exemptions from vaccinations are potentially allowed, notably for US citizens, though my guess is airlines will be expecting to see vaccine certificates
- 3 day pre-flight testing requirement will continue, so this needs to be a documented antigen/Lateral Flow test or PCR.
- 3 days is potentially more than 72 hours, departure on a Friday afternoon means a test on Tuesday morning or thereafter.
- NHS Lateral Flows and PCRs can't be used.
- Children over 2 years old travelling with vaccinated travellers have to be tested on the same basis (3 days).
- 1 day testing for unvaccinated USA legal residents (testing on or the day before departure), including their children.
- All passengers need to sign an attestment to confirm their negative test result and also a statement to confirm full vaccination status.
- Children who are not vaccinated do not need to get vaccinated but do need to get a "viral test" 3 to 5 days after arrival in the USA
- As a result there is a separate attestion question for unvaccinated children to confirm that the viral test is arranged.
- Vaccination certificates must come from an official source. The NHS COVID Pass app and EU DCC are specifically mentioned as acceptable.
- Vaccination is counted as two weeks from dose2, or 2 weeks after the sole dose in the case of J&J.
- Antibody certification is not a replacement for the need for vaccination, at least for non USA residents.
- 14 clear days need to elapse before travel. So if jabbed on 1 October then 15 October is when you are good to go.
- Booster vaccinations are not a factor here, they don't count towards or against the primary dose process.
- There is a face mask mandate when flying to/from the USA, with effectively no exemptions, and including children two and above years old.
- Airlines need to provide some sort of contact tracing information for potential follow-up cases.
- These restrictions do not apply at the land border.
Note that a lot of interpretation onus falls on airlines. For example there is no language requirement for vaccine certificates as far as the CDC is concerned, however you can imagine Air France may be hesitant in accepting a vaccine certificate issued in the Welsh language, to take one example.
CDC link
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2...el-System.html
US reopened on 8 November 2021 (& subsequent entry restrictions for non-citizens)
#1156
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,224
I'm still reasonably optimistic that Biden will re-open after the summer holidays. As business resumes, so the need for business travel. I have no doubt he is already under pressure from his big donors to permit their European workers to visit their US offices (Goldmans and JPM are already largely back in the office and need their staff to be able to visit) and this pressure will only increase. And Biden doesn't want to irritate his donors, so he needs a way to portray this as being good for American business whilst still being nasty to pesky foreigners.
#1157
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 825
I think it makes sense to let in anyone who can show they have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines we know to be effective (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, Astra-Zeneca, Novavax, and maybe Sputnik V). At this point it's vaccination status, not nation of origin, which we should be using to discriminate.
#1158
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 6,752
I think it makes sense to let in anyone who can show they have been fully vaccinated with any of the vaccines we know to be effective (Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, Astra-Zeneca, Novavax, and maybe Sputnik V). At this point it's vaccination status, not nation of origin, which we should be using to discriminate.
With rare exceptions, I'm not a proponent of closing borders and/or restricting travel. In my view, we've been overly cautious on the reopening with the rest of the world, especially with those who areas with high vaccine penetration. But (there's that word again), while I may place more importance on revving up the global economic engine (conflict of interest since I benefit from this), I can understand the Admin's momentary pause, given what we're seeing from the variants.
This isn't to suggest I agree with the Admin's overly cautious stance here, but it isn't unreasonable that Pres Biden may want to give a little extra time for some Americans to overcome their vaccine hesitancy. It's mostly their tax dollars that funded these projects, and if the Admin wants a little extra time to convince them to come around, I can understand that.
#1159
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2014
Programs: Top Tier with all 3 alliances
Posts: 11,666
Cases are climbing in the UK now, three days in a row...
#1161
Join Date: Aug 2018
Posts: 46
Case numbers are also essentially irrelevant when the majority of the population, including the entire vulnerable cohort (65+), is vaccinated (as in the UK). There could be 100,000 cases a day, but if none of them are ending up in hospital then it doesn't matter.The whole idea of lockdowns/restricting our freedoms was to keep hospitals from being over run - "flatten the curve" etc. Hospitalization/ICU usage stats are the only ones that matter now.
#1162
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 710
Couldn't agree more. Although I suspect HMG will use the infection numbers as an excuse for not opening since hospitalization numbers are a lagging indicator.
#1163
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
Case numbers are also essentially irrelevant when the majority of the population, including the entire vulnerable cohort (65+), is vaccinated (as in the UK). There could be 100,000 cases a day, but if none of them are ending up in hospital then it doesn't matter.The whole idea of lockdowns/restricting our freedoms was to keep hospitals from being over run - "flatten the curve" etc. Hospitalization/ICU usage stats are the only ones that matter now.
#1164
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Milan, Italy
Programs: Skymiles
Posts: 271
I live in the USA but I watch the UK BBC news at 10 most days. For months and months the BBC have given daily Covid figures including cases, deaths and number in hospital along with vaccination statistics. For the last 2 weeks or so they have stopped giving number of people in hospital and I cannot for the life of me understand why they no longer show this key statistic. It is probably the most important single indicator of what we're facing in the next few months.
#1165
Moderator: British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: TPA/ABZ
Programs: BA Lifetime Gold. GGL/CCR.
Posts: 13,248
#1166
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Northern England
Posts: 1,531
I live in the USA but I watch the UK BBC news at 10 most days. For months and months the BBC have given daily Covid figures including cases, deaths and number in hospital along with vaccination statistics. For the last 2 weeks or so they have stopped giving number of people in hospital and I cannot for the life of me understand why they no longer show this key statistic. It is probably the most important single indicator of what we're facing in the next few months.
the real world data is increasingly showing the vaccines as effective against the delta variant. There is no reason other than political for borders to remain closed and travel to be so restricted. I suspect however that government will continue to claim that rates are too high even when there are limited actual consequences from this.
#1168
Join Date: Jun 2014
Programs: BA GGL, Hilton Diamond, Accor Platinum, Marriott Platinum, IHG Spire
Posts: 160
As you can see, hospitalisations attributed to COVID are at 200/day, not a worth statistic to scare people when it was 4200/day in Jan/Feb
Total in hospital attributed to COVID is 1250 vs 40K in Jan/Feb.
#1169
Original Member
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Northern England
Posts: 1,531
those that have gained the power over the population that now don’t want to give it up.
I also suspect the scientists don’t want to give it up either since they are enjoying the spoils of being on TV news everyday and the buckets of cash to model every new variant
I also suspect the scientists don’t want to give it up either since they are enjoying the spoils of being on TV news everyday and the buckets of cash to model every new variant
#1170
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Boston area, US
Programs: FB (platinum for life), AAdvantage (exec platinum), Aeroflot Bonus (gold)
Posts: 258
You're not the only one in this situation. Just locate my post higher up in this thread and submit a similar complaint to the European Commission using their official contacts -- nothing will change unless we all act.
It’s not just the ban, it’s also the discrimination to non immigrants visaholders and property owners. We work here, our kids go to school here, we pay taxes and the IRS considers us residents. Yet we can’t reenter directly nor renew our visas right now, we are still stuck!!!!
Come on just a little effort, easy to understand! It’s not just about tourism, hell!
They must begin to realize how unfair and frustrating it can be to see Americans, even unvaccinated, who go to eat spaghetti and sunbathe in Italy while EU citizens, even vaccinated, cannot even go back to work or to meet family members. How disgusting!
Come on just a little effort, easy to understand! It’s not just about tourism, hell!
They must begin to realize how unfair and frustrating it can be to see Americans, even unvaccinated, who go to eat spaghetti and sunbathe in Italy while EU citizens, even vaccinated, cannot even go back to work or to meet family members. How disgusting!