US: Mandatory Covid-19 Test For Domestic Travel?

[Anta Assamey]

US president Joe Biden is keen on strict measures and implementation to control the virus spread. While the Biden administration announced about buying more vaccine doses, the president is actively looking into mandating masks and few other measures.

One of them seems to be the mandate Covid-19 test for domestic flight travels. If it is mandated, which might happen very soon, requires the passenger to get tested for Covid-19 and has to test negative to travel within the country.

According to the director for the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they are looking actively into the types and locations of testing needed for the mandate that may come into action.

On the other side, the airlines are worried if the new rule could trouble the industry which is already at loss due to people preferring road travel in the pandemic. Biden already signed an executive order directing the US agencies to recommend additional public health measures for domestic travel and to consider new rules for those crossing land borders. The same order mandates mask to use in trains, ferries, buses, and airports.

Already the rule that says international airline travelers age two and up needs to produce a negative Covid-19 test before flying into the US.