Fogbow

International travelers flying to the United States will no longer need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before boarding their flights to the U.S., a senior Biden administration official said Friday, ending one of the nation’s last pandemic-related travel requirements.

The requirement will end at 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

The administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity ahead of the announcement, said science and data show the requirement is no longer necessary. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will reassess the decision in 90 days and would reinstate the requirement if necessary, officials said.

keith wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 8:19 am Why not just organise to have the test done and stop worrying about it?

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess the tests aren't free like in Ozzyland.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:06 pm

keith wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 8:19 am Why not just organise to have the test done and stop worrying about it?

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess the tests aren't free like in Ozzyland.

It's mostly just the timing and the hassle of it just before you are getting ready to travel.

sugar magnolia wrote: ↑Thu Jul 07, 2022 1:41 pm

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 12:06 pm

keith wrote: ↑Sun Jun 12, 2022 8:19 am Why not just organise to have the test done and stop worrying about it?

Oh, I'm sorry. I guess the tests aren't free like in Ozzyland.

It's mostly just the timing and the hassle of it just before you are getting ready to travel.

More hassle than getting covid?

Traveling to Canada is about to get a lot easier.

Starting Oct. 1, the country is dropping all coronavirus entry and travel restrictions. That means visitors will no longer be required to show proof of vaccination, get tested, submit health information through an official online site, report symptoms, isolate or quarantine, or wear a mask on planes or trains.

Rules for cruise travelers are also being lifted, meaning passengers won’t need to test negative before boarding a ship, be vaccinated or use the online public health reporting system.

Public health authorities said several factors led to the end of pandemic-era rules, including high vaccination rates; low hospitalization and death rates; new vaccine boosters; and models that indicate the country has passed the peak of infections from the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

AndyinPA wrote: ↑Mon Sep 26, 2022 8:35 pm https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2 ... ns-travel/

Traveling to Canada is about to get a lot easier.

The Biden administration will require airline passengers traveling from China to test negative for Covid before entering the U.S. as concern grows that widespread transmission of the virus in the world’s most populous country could result in new variants, federal health officials said on Wednesday.

All airline passengers two years of age and older originating from China, Hong Kong or Macau will be required to get tested for Covid no more than two days before their departure to the U.S. and show a negative result to the airline upon departure, the health officials said.

The requirements, which apply regardless of nationality and vaccination status, start Jan. 5. Travelers can get a PCR test or a rapid self-test that is administered and monitored by a telehealth service. The rapid test must be authorized by the Food and Drug Administration or the relevant national authority.

After China relaxed the world’s most stringent Covid-19 restrictions in December, the virus exploded there. Four separate academic teams have come up with broadly similar estimates suggesting that one million to 1.5 million people died during the surge, far more than China’s official count.

Researchers believe that the country’s official figure, as of Feb. 9, of 83,150 deaths during the entire pandemic is a vast undercount. That number would give China the lowest death rate per capita of any major country over the whole of the pandemic.

But at the researchers’ estimated levels of mortality, China would already have surpassed the toll in many Asian countries that never clamped down as long or as aggressively. The estimates also align more closely with the evidence of overwhelmed hospitals and crematories than the official figures do.

Two of the estimates were in papers published in academic journals or posted for peer review. Two others were shared by epidemiologists in response to queries from The Times. All of the researchers consulted by The Times cautioned that without reliable data from China, the estimates should be understood as informed guesses.