As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the U.S. Government (USG) is innovating and adopting a new approach to help keep international air passengers healthy. The new, more effective strategy focuses on the travel continuum and the individual passenger, including pre-boarding and post-arrival education, efforts to develop a potential testing framework with international partners, and disease response. This strategy is consistent with the current phase of the pandemic and more effectively protects the health of the American public.
On September 14, 2020, the USG removed the requirements to direct all flights carrying air passengers arriving from, or who recently had presence in, certain countries to land at one of 15 designated airports and halted enhanced health screening for entry for these passengers. Currently, enhanced health screening for entry is conducted for those arriving from, or with recent presence in, China (excluding the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau), Iran, the Schengen area of Europe, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside Europe), Ireland, and Brazil.
We now have a better understanding of COVID-19 transmission, which indicates that symptom-based screening has limited effectiveness because people with COVID-19 may not show symptoms or fever at the time of screening, or may only have mild symptoms. Virus transmission can occur from passengers who are asymptomatic or who have not yet developed symptoms of infection. Therefore, the CDC is changing its strategy and prioritizing other public health measures to reduce the risk of travel-related disease transmission.
The USG’s resources are dedicated to more effective mitigation efforts that focus on the individual passenger, including: pre-boarding health education, in-flight and post-arrival education for passengers; robust disease response at airports; voluntary collection of passenger contact information using electronic means, as proposed by some airlines, to avoid long lines, crowds, and delays associated with manual data collection; potential testing to reduce the risk of travel-related transmission of the COVID-19 virus and movement of the virus from one location to another; country-specific risk assessments to assist passengers in making informed decisions about travel-related risks; enhancement of training and education for partners in the transportation sector and at U.S. ports of entry to ensure disease recognition and immediate notification to the CDC; and post-arrival recommendations for passenger self-monitoring and precautions to protect others, with enhanced precautions including staying home as much as possible for 14 days for individuals arriving from high-risk destinations.
By refocusing our mitigation efforts on the individual passenger risk throughout the entire air travel journey, the USG can more effectively protect the health of the American public.
Source: https://br.usembassy.gov/