The Biden administration is looking into expanding a recent Executive Order that requires foreign travelers coming into the United States to present a negative COVID-19 test. Specifically, it is looking at putting the same requirements for domestic travel.
On Jan. 21, the White House released the Executive Order on Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel, which enforced stricter mask-wearing rules during flights and for individuals coming into the United States through air travel, "proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test prior to entry."
Now, officials in the Biden administration are in talks to implement the same policies for domestic flights. Officials remain tight-lipped of the developments of this policy, but Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told Axios on HBO (via CNN) that "There's an active conversation with the CDC right now."
"What I can tell you is, it's going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out," the new Transport Secretary said. Buttigieg explained that while domestic situations are "very different" from the international airline industry, the CDC is continuously evaluating the best steps to "keep Americans safe."
During a recent town hall, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky strongly opposed air travel, whether internationally or domestically, saying that now is not the right time to travel. According to The Washington Post, she also shared that the government has a budget for more people to get tested for COVID-19, a larger portion of which is going to schools for them to safely reopen. She said however that the Biden administration is looking into allotting a portion of the budget to other high-risk activities, which include flying domestically.
While an increase in individuals to get tested for COVID-19 sounds like a good measure to help stop the spread, the news of this new policy for domestic flights is gaining negative feedback from several parties, including the Airlines for America (A4A), which already presented to the White House new research on how in-flight infection has lowered thanks to the industry's newly adapted COVID-19 safety measures.
A4A was also concerned that implementing a policy that requires individuals to get tested for COVID-19 before boarding domestic flights will "disproportionately prevent low-income travelers and rural Americans in small communities from travel."
Meanwhile, the U.S. Travel Association is worried about this new policy taking effect, as the burden of shouldering the costs of having passengers get tested for COVID-19 before boarding domestic flights may most likely fall on the airlines. The association believes that it will also take up valuable testing resources that could be allotted to those who need it the most: medical frontliners and other public health priorities.
Airplane manufacturer Boeing opposes such a policy to be implemented, citing that the entire airline industry has already been crippled by the pandemic and the cost to pay for people to get tested for COVID-19 before flying should be shouldered by the policymakers themselves.
According to The Blaze, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. Peter A. DeFazio pointed out how such a policy will see a 50% increase in daily testing capacity. It is unclear whether the resources for the implementation of such a policy will be part of Biden's proposed $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan.
