NEW YORK (AP) – Anyone flying into the United States will soon have to prove a negative test for COVID-19, health officials announced Tuesday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirement is extended with a similar requirement announced late last month for passengers from the UK. The new order will take effect in two weeks.
COVID is already widespread in the United States, with more than 22 million cases reported to date, including more than 375,000 deaths. The new measures are designed to try to prevent travelers from incorporating newer forms of the virus that scientists say can spread more easily.
The CDC order applies to U.S. citizens and foreign travelers. The agency said it delayed the effective date until Jan. 26 to give airlines and travelers time to comply.
International travel to the U.S. has already been decimated by the pandemic restrictions set last March that banned most foreigners from Europe and other areas. Foreign travel to the United States and Americans to international destinations in December was down 76% compared to a year earlier, according to the trading group Airlines for America.
The new restrictions require airline passengers to take a COVID-19 test within three days of their flight to the U.S. and provide the airline with written proof of the test result. Travelers can also provide documentation about their infection and recovery.
Airlines are ordered to prevent passengers from boarding if they have no evidence of a negative test.
“Testing doesn’t eliminate all risks,” CDC Director Robert R. Redfield said in a statement. “But combined with a period of stay at home and daily precautions such as wearing masks and socializing, it can make travel safer, healthier and more responsible by reducing dispersal on planes, airports and destinations.”
The CDC order is “a reasonable approach” to reduce the risk of new foreign variants entering the U.S., said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
The newly identified version of the UK virus is likely to be found “probably in all states or most states. That won’t do anything about it, ”Jha said. So far, 10 states have reported 72 cases of the variant.
But the new order may stop or slow the spread of other new versions of the virus, such as one recently identified in South Africa.
“I can imagine other countries imposing on us (planned tests),” he added.
Airlines have been pushing for pre-flight tests to replace broad travel restrictions between the U.S. and the rest of the world. In some cases, they have arranged for passengers to avoid quarantine after arrival by testing before their flight.
The tests “are key to unlocking international borders and safely reopening world travel,” said Nicole Carriere, a spokeswoman for United Airlines, one of the top three U.S. carriers flying to Europe and Asia.
Others say the CDC order is unlikely to lead to an immediate increase in international travel.
“Its public health authorities encourage people not to travel, even nationally,” said Henry Hartevedlt, a travel analyst with research group Atmosphere.
He does not expect air travel to recover until the summer, when more people have been vaccinated.
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Koenig reported from Dallas
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department is supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.