The new U.S. requirements, which start Jan. 5, apply to travelers regardless of their nationality and vaccination status.
China’s “zero COVID” policies had kept the country’s infection rate low but fueled public frustration and crushed economic growth.
“What we want to avoid is having a variant enter into the U.S. and spread like we saw with delta or omicron,” said Matthew Binnicker, director of clinical virology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Stuart Campbell Ray, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University, agreed China isn’t sharing enough genomic sequencing information. But he also said the U.S. has become a little complacent about sequencing and needs to redouble its own efforts. The CDC also announced the expansion of an early warning program that tests volunteers at select airports for new and rare variants of the coronavirus. That program will expand to airports in Seattle and Los Angeles.
It will be up to the airlines to confirm negative tests and documentation of recovery before passengers board.
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