US Travel reacts to CDC’s international travel testing mandate

US agency, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has said that those arriving by air to the United States must provide written documentation of a negative Covid-19 test or documentation of having recovered from Covid-19. The order is expected to go into effect from 26 January. “Variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continue to emerge in countries around the world, and there is evidence of increased transmissibility of some of these variants,” the CDC said in a statement. “With the US already in surge status, the testing requirement for air passengers will help slow the spread of the virus as we work to vaccinate the American public.” The US Travel Association executive vice-president of public affairs and policy Tori Emerson Barnes (pictured) issued the following statement in response to the CDC move: “We appreciate the CDC’s announcement of a Covid-19 testing requirement for inbound international travellers. “A testing requirement provides yet another layer of safety for international travel and should be accompanied by other risk-based policies – including lifting international inbound travel restrictions and dropping any post-arrival quarantine requirements. “With an international testing requirement in place, international visitors and returning residents would be tested at much higher rates than the general public and pose a much lower risk of transmitting the disease. So, it would make sense to lift international travel restrictions and quarantine requirements at the same time. “With a risk-based, layered approach to health and safety throughout every aspect of travel, it’s possible to both protect public health and allow travel to safely resume.”