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Americans who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can travel safely at home and abroad, as long as they take basic precautions like wearing masks, federal health officials said on Friday, a change long overdue compared to terrible government warnings that have held back millions of people. at home for a year.
Announcing the change at a White House press conference, officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stressed that they prefer people to avoid travel. But they said growing evidence for the actual effectiveness of vaccines – which have been given to more than 100 million Americans – suggested people vaccinated might do so “at low risk to themselves.”
The CDC’s official change in stance comes at a time of both hope and peril in the pandemic. The pace of vaccinations is accelerating rapidly across the country and the number of deaths is declining.
Still, cases are increasing dramatically in many states as new variants of the coronavirus spread across the country. Last Monday, CDC director Dr Rochelle P. Walensky warned of a potential fourth wave if states and cities continued to ease public health restrictions, telling reporters she felt she was “Imminent disaster”.
Some public health experts were taken aback by Friday’s announcement and expressed concern that the government is sending confused signals to the public.
“It’s a mixture of ‘please don’t travel’, at the same time making it easier for a subset of people to travel,” said Dr Wafaa El-Sadr, professor of epidemiology and epidemiology. medicine at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. “I think it’s very confusing and goes against the message we heard earlier this week of ‘stay put’, ‘hold on’, ‘be patient’. And that worries me. Public health messages must be very clear, very consistent and very simple. “
Dr Walensky herself appeared to acknowledge the seemingly mixed message during Friday’s press conference. “Science shows us that getting a full vaccine allows you to do more things safely, and it is important for us to provide this advice even in the context of increasing cases, ”she said.
The travel industry has welcomed the new directions, hoping it could be the start of a fortune for airlines, hotels and tourist destinations, which have suffered mounting losses for more than a year.
“As travel is coming back, jobs in the United States are coming back,” Roger Dow, general manager of the US Travel Association, an industry group, said in a statement.
Federal officials have remained adamant that people who have not been fully vaccinated should not travel at all, a position widely supported by public health experts.
“If you are fully vaccinated you can go back traveling, but if you are not there is still a lot of virus circulating and it is still a risky business and you should postpone until you are vaccinated. or let the situation improve, “said Caitlin Rivers, epidemiologist and assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
If unvaccinated people must travel, the CDC recommends that they be tested for coronavirus infection one to three days before their trip and again three to five days after termination. They should self-quarantine for seven days after travel if tested and for 10 days if not tested, the agency said.
People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the single dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two weeks after receiving the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine. Some 58 million people in the United States, 22% of the adult population, have been fully vaccinated, latest CDC figures show
Scientists are still not sure whether people who have been vaccinated can become infected, even briefly, and pass the virus on to others. A recent CDC study suggested that such cases might be rare, but until this issue is resolved, many public health officials believe it is unwise to tell vaccinated Americans just to do this. that they want. They say it’s important for everyone who has been vaccinated to continue to wear masks, practice social distancing and take other precautions.
According to the new CDC guidelines, fully vaccinated Americans traveling the country do not need to be tested for the coronavirus or go through quarantine procedures at or after their return home. When traveling abroad, they only need to undergo a coronavirus test or quarantine if the country where they are going to require it.
However, the guidelines say they must take a negative coronavirus test before catching a flight back to the United States and that they should get tested again three to five days after their return.
The recommendation is based on the idea that vaccinated people can still be infected with the virus. The CDC also cited a lack of vaccine coverage in other countries and concerns about the potential introduction and spread of new variants of the virus that are more prevalent overseas.
Most states have accelerated their timelines to open immunizations to all adults, as the pace of immunizations across the country has increased. On average, nearly three million shots per day were administered as of Friday, according to data reported by the CDC.
The new advice comes on top of the CDC’s recommendations issued in early March saying that fully vaccinated people can congregate in small groups in private places without masks or social distancing, and can visit unvaccinated people in a single household as long as that they are at low risk of developing. serious illness in case of infection with the virus.
Travel has already increased across the country, as the weather warms and Americans tire of the pandemic restrictions. Last Sunday was the busiest day at national airports since the start of the pandemic. According to the Transportation Security Administration, nearly 1.6 million people have passed through security checkpoints at US airports.
But the industry’s concerns are far from over. The pandemic has also shown businesses large and small that their employees can often be as productive working remotely as they are face to face. As a result, the airline and hospitality industries expect it will be years before lucrative business travel returns to pre-pandemic levels, leaving a yawning revenue hole.
And while leisure travel to the United States may recover steadily, airlines predict that it will take until 2023 or 2024 for passenger volume to reach 2019 levels, according to Airlines for America, an industry group. . The industry lost more than $ 35 billion last year and continues to lose tens of millions of dollars every day, the group said.
Many countries, including those in the European Union, still prevent most Americans from coming. Some are starting to make exceptions for those who are vaccinated. From March 26, fully vaccinated Americans who can show proof of vaccination can travel to Iceland, for example, and avoid restrictions such as testing and quarantine, the country’s government said.
The CDC also released more detailed technical instructions for cruise lines on Thursday, requiring them to take action to develop vaccination strategies and schedule routine crew member testing and daily reports of Covid cases. -19 before being able to carry out simulated travel tests with volunteers, before boarding real passengers. CDC guidelines recognize that taking cruises “will always pose some risk of transmission of Covid-19.”
Some destinations and cruise lines have already started requiring travelers to be fully vaccinated. The Royal Caribbean cruise line requires passengers and crew 18 years or older to be vaccinated to board its ships, as do Virgin Voyages, Crystal Cruises and others.
At this time, airlines do not require vaccines for travel. But the idea has been discussed a lot in the industry.
Niraj Chokshi contributed reporting.
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