Since January 2021, travelers boarding a flight to the United States have needed to produce a negative COVID-19 test result to enter the country. Now, that testing requirement is set to end, reports CNN.
Citing an unnamed senior administration official, CNN reports that the U.S. testing requirement for inbound travelers will end Sunday, June 12, at midnight, with an announcement from the Biden Administration expected today, June 10. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plans to revisit the testing requirement in 90 days. If a troublesome new variant emerges, for example, the federal body could reinstate it, per CNN.
When the U.S. first implemented the testing rule a year and a half ago, the Delta variant of COVID-19 had just made its way into the country for the first time. Initially, all travelers who wished to enter the U.S. needed to take a viral test within three days of boarding a flight to the country, then share those results with their airline. In December 2021, as the highly contagious Omicron variant began spreading within the U.S., the federal government tightened the testing timeframe to 24 hours.
Though the entry testing requirement for all inbound travelers—returning U.S. citizens and international visitors alike—is going away, international tourists who want to visit the U.S. will still need to show proof of vaccination to enter the country. (U.S. citizens are not required to be vaccinated to re-enter the country.)
The move comes amid the latest surge of the virus in the country., with health officials recording roughly 110,000 new cases per day, but the removal of the U.S. testing requirement follows a trend toward loosening restrictions: Following an April 2022 court order, the government stopped enforcing its requirement that people wear masks in airports, on planes, and in other public transportation areas, a rule that had been in place since January 2021.
Throughout the pandemic, airlines and other travel industry groups have been urging federal leaders to ease travel restrictions. They wrote in a February letter to the Biden administration that the country had reached an “inflection point” thanks to the availability of vaccines, new treatments, lower hospitalization rates, and increasing immunity to the virus. They argued that while other industries have fully rebounded, travel has been slower to recover, in part because of federal rules and messaging. Some lawmakers have also been advocating for the government to lift the restriction.
“It is time for high-level officials within the administration to publicly encourage travel to and within the U.S.,” said the February letter from Airlines for America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the U.S. Travel Association. “Doing so would send a clear message to U.S. businesses, trading partners, and travelers alike that America is once again open for business.”
Other countries are also loosening their restrictions, with some, like Australia and New Zealand, recently reopening to travelers after nearly two years of closed borders. The United Kingdom, meanwhile, dropped its pre-arrival testing requirement for vaccinated travelers in February—and not long after, Iceland, Norway, and Slovenia lifted all travel restrictions, including testing and vaccination rules. Since then, many other countries have followed suit.
This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.
