CDC says vaccinated Americans don’t need COVID-19 tests, quarantine to travel
Fully vaccinated Americans can travel within the United States without getting tested for COVID-19 or self-quarantining when they return home, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday.
They can also travel internationally without getting tested beforehand, unless it is required by the overseas destination.
Those returning to the United States from abroad also do not need to self-quarantine once they arrive, “unless required by a state or local jurisdiction,” the agency said.
It is the first change in travel guidance from the CDC since coronavirus vaccines became available in December, and offers Americans a sign of easing up after a year of tough pandemic restrictions.
The agency released its guidance at a precarious time in the pandemic, with cases soaring abroad and increasing across 30 U.S. states, a trend worrying epidemiologists as well as scientists at the CDC.
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters that the agency had to weigh the benefits of releasing its new guidance, which might encourage Americans to resume non-essential travel, against the steady rise in cases nationwide.
The new guidance is intentionally “silent” on non-essential travel, Walensky said, adding that she “would advocate against general travel overall.”
“On the one hand, we are telling you we are worried about rising cases, to wear a mask and to avoid travel. Yet on the other hand, we are saying that if you are vaccinated, evolving data suggests that traveling is likely lower risk,” Walensky said.
“The science shows us that getting fully vaccinated allows you to do more things safely, and it is important for us to provide that guidance, even in the context of rising cases,” she said.
The CDC says that a person is “fully vaccinated” two weeks after receiving a single-dose vaccine, or two weeks after receiving the second shot of a two-dose vaccine.
“We state that fully vaccinated people can resume travel at low risk to themselves,” Walensky said.
The new federal guidance comes as a welcome development for a beleaguered travel industry that has been hoping for a return to some normalcy this summer, with millions of Americans getting vaccinated each day. McClatchy first reported the CDC’s plans to announce new guidance on Thursday.
“Acknowledging that vaccinations eliminate the need for testing and quarantines removes a key barrier to domestic travel,” Roger Dow, CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, said in a statement. “Rescinding the recommendation that international visitors must quarantine also is an important incremental step.”
Until now, the CDC had released limited guidance on what activities Americans can safely resume after getting vaccinated.
In March, the public health agency said that vaccinated people could safely gather with other vaccinated people indoors and without masks, but suggested they keep their gatherings small.
According to the agency, nearly 40% of all adults in the United States have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and more than one in five adults is now fully vaccinated.
Walensky said that the new guidance urges all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask on planes, buses, trains and other forms of public transportation.
The CDC guidance for Americans who have not been vaccinated remains the same, discouraging all travel, Walensky said.
This story was originally published April 2, 2021 at 10:18 AM with the headline "CDC says vaccinated Americans don’t need COVID-19 tests, quarantine to travel."
