The CDC Won’t Force Americans to Get a COVID-19 Test for Domestic Travel—Yet

A potential new requirement that would force any U.S. traveler getting on a domestic flight to produce a negative COVID-19 test will not go into effect just yet.

According to a report in CNN, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will not recommend a domestic travel testing requirement, though it says it is continuing to monitor “public health options for containing and mitigating spread of COVID-19 in the travel space.”

Reports had circulated that the CDC was looking at implementing the testing requirement for anyone getting on an airplane in the United States (the CDC already has the requirement in place for inbound international travelers).

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in an interview with Axios on HBO, said last week that there is currently an ongoing, “active conversation” with the CDC about the requirement, but the reports this week seem to indicate that the discussions are on hold for the time being.

A number of travel organizations, including U.S. Travel, and major suppliers came out against the reported requirement after rumors swirled stemming from an interview Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg did with Axios on HBO.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian told CNN last week that the decision to put the testing requirement in place would not only damage the travel industry, but would put a massive strain on the country’s COVID-19 testing infrastructure, causing a ripple effect that would only worsen the pandemic.

Bastian called domestic airline travel the “safest form of transportation” right now with very, very few documented cases of spread on domestic flights. He also said that should a testing mandate be put in place for domestic flights, about 10% of all the testing resources in the U.S. could be taken up by travelers as the TSA daily passenger volume continues to trend up to the one million mark.

“It’s hard to get tests, there are days of delay still. I think it would be a logistical nightmare. It would set [the travel and hospitality sector] back at least another year,” he added.

“It will not keep domestic flyers safer, if anything it’s going to keep flyers away from what they need to do, in terms of starting to get back out in terms of essential travel and start reclaiming their lives. Taking resources away from those truly in need, I think would be a terrible decision,” Bastian added.