White House Has No Plans To End Testing For International Travel

We are starting to see countries eliminate travel restrictions related to coronaviruses, such as requiring masks on planes, and testing for travel.

In the United States, the federal transportation mask mandate is currently in effect through April 18, 2022, and I think it will end at that point unless case numbers increase significantly. Is it necessary to get tested for international travel? That is a different story, unfortunately.

White House has no plans to end international travel testing rules

The White House Coronaviruses Response Coordinator was asked if there were any plans to change the policy of requiring testing for international travel. Here is how he responded.

“No, there are no plans to change the international travel requirements at this point.”

The United States requires all travelers to the country to be tested within a day of arriving, regardless of citizenship or vaccinations. The current policy took effect in late 2021, and was part of a larger decision to finally end targeted travel bans and allow foreign visitors to the United States.

I suppose we could be hopeful that the government is considering this and just isn't ready to announce anything yet. He didn't suggest that this was under consideration, or that the government was working to eliminate it.

This is a disappointing policy

It's disappointing to see that the Biden administration doesn't seem to have any plans to lift the current testing requirement, even as other countries do. There are a few thoughts.

• Is there any data to suggest that the testing requirement has greatly impacted a new variant entering the United States?
• How is it that literally the only activity that requires testing is taking a flight to the United States? You can go to a nightclub or fly domestically without getting tested, but if you’re flying to the United States that’s required
• The testing requirement doesn’t send the right message about vaccination; if you want to encourage people to get vaccinated, how about at least lifting the requirement for vaccinated travelers
• Even beyond the lack of effectiveness of the current testing requirement, the bigger issue is simply that the international travel testing industry is a complete money grab, and really shady, as I’ve written about before

Bottom line

The testing requirement for international travel will not end until after the federal transportation mask mandate is over. This seems to me like an arbitrary policy to keep in place, since you don't have to get tested to do anything else, and mask mandates have largely been eliminated.

I wouldn't be surprised if this policy is lifted in late spring. We will see, I guess.

Do you think the testing requirement for international travel will end?