Mixed messages on travel from CDC
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said during a White House COVID-19 briefing on Friday that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves. However, she also said that with the rising number of COVID cases, the CDC is not recommending nonessential travel at this time.
Video Transcript
ROCHELLE WALENSKY: We now have several newly released studies documenting the real-world effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. So today, we are releasing an update to our guidance for fully vaccinated people. Specifically, the new guidelines today speaks to travel.
We state that fully vaccinated people can resume travel to low-- at low-risk to themselves. For domestic travel, fully vaccinated people do not need to get a COVID-19 test before or after travel and do not need to self-quarantine after travel. For example, fully vaccinated grandparents can fly to visit their healthy grandkids without getting a COVID-19 test or self-quarantining, provided they follow the other recommended prevention measures while traveling.
For international travel, fully vaccinated people do not need to get a COVID-19 test before they leave the United States unless it is required by their international destination. However, fully vaccinated people should get tested and have a negative test result before they board an international flight back into the United States, but they do not need to quarantine when they arrive here.
However, fully vaccinated people who do international travel should still be tested three to five days after arrival in the United States on an international flight. Our guidance reiterates that all travelers, regardless of vaccination status, should continue to wear masks on planes buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation while traveling. As I mentioned previously, the viant-- the science on COVID-19 is constantly evolving. We will continue to monitor the evidence and provide updates as we learn more.
With so many people still unvaccinated, it is important that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, continue to take prevention measures in public and adhere to our guidance on ways to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Wear a mask, physically distance, avoid crowds and poorly ventilated areas, and wash your hands frequently. And while we believe that fully vaccinated people can travel at low risk to themselves, CDC is not recommending travel at this time due to the rising number of cases.
