The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order last week, effective January 26, 2021, requiring proof of a negative COVID-19 test or documentation of having recovered from COVID-19 for all international air passengers arriving from a foreign country to the US. Under this order, nearly all travelers aged two or older including US citizens must show a negative viral test within three days of departure or documentation of recovery from COVID-19. The CDC will consider waivers of testing requirements for passengers coming from countries with little or no testing capacity, including certain places in the Caribbean.
The order supersedes the previous order of December 28 that required negative pre-departure COVID-19 tests for all airline travelers into the US from the UK, after the more transmissible variant of the virus circulated there. Marty Cetron, director of CDC’s global migration and quarantine division, said abut the most recent order: “We have to really up the ante...We have to take these mutations seriously.”
Canada, as have many other countries, imposed similar rules for nearly all international arrivals starting January 7. CDC director Dr. Robert R. Redfield said in the announcement of the new order: “Testing does not eliminate all risk, but when combined with a period of staying at home and everyday precautions like wearing masks and social distancing, it can make travel safer, healthier, and more responsible by reducing spread on planes, in airports, and at destinations."
The testing requirement does not invalidate the travel restrictions that are still in place based on the presidential proclamations issued last year. On January 31, 2020, March 11, 2020, and March 14, 2020, the US issued several travel restrictions given concerns about the risk of the transmission of COVID-19 by travelers from China, the Schengen area, UK and Ireland. In May, Brazil was added to the list of countries subject to these restrictions. These proclamations restrict travel to the US for people who have been physically present in the countries listed for fourteen days prior to their flight to the US but make exceptions for US citizens and Green Card holders and their family members amongst others. In March 2020, travel between the US and Mexico and Canada was also restricted to essential travel, again because of the risks of COVID-19 transmission. Additionally, on April 22, 2020, and June 22, 2020 (amended on June 29, 2020), additional restrictions were put in place for Green Card applicants and certain H-1B, L and J visa holders who were based abroad, and in late December 2020, President Trump extended these restrictions through March 31, 2021.
Late in the day on January 18 the outgoing president issued a proclamation rescinding the country of origin travel restrictions effective January 26 for people traveling from Ireland, UK, Brazil and the Schengen area. The restrictions on travel from Iran and China remain in place. Unfortunately, the incoming Biden administration suggested that they were likely to leave the restrictions in place, stating, “on the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26," and adding, "With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel." Stay tuned for updates later this week.