All travelers must pass the COVID-19 negative test in order to enter the United States.
President Biden’s most recent COVID-19 rule comes into effect Monday. All international travelers, including Americans must test negative for COVID-19 within the first 24 hours after their departure to the United States, regardless of whether or not they have been vaccinated.
The White House announced Thursday, that the U.S. would tighten pre-departure screening protocols and require all international travelers to undergo testing within one day of departing globally. This applies regardless of nationality or vaccination status. Fox News received confirmation Friday from a senior administration official that the restriction would be in effect on Monday.
The White House stated that the Omicron variant is being analyzed by scientists in a tighter timeline.
Biden announced this requirement along with a host of other actions including the extension and expansion of mandatory masking in public transport and airports up to March 18, creating “WinterCOVID emergency team[s]”, purchasing a stockpile coronavirus therapeutics and working to provide more at home virus tests.
Biden stated Thursday that he would fight the variant with science and speed and not chaos and confusion, much like he beat back COVID-19’s spring and more powerful variant — the Delta variant in summer and fall.”
Biden also stated Friday that he doesn’t believe that the White House needs to go beyond these measures in order to establish a vaccination requirement for domestic travel, at least not “at this point.”
He stated that the measures he announced yesterday were sufficient to provide medical precautions to prevent the spread of the new variant. “But, we require for travel — it’s going to continue to require that people have masks — masks on — in public places and — federal buildings.”
Biden said, “I continue to depend on the scientists and asking if or not we need to move beyond yesterday.” They’re saying “no” right now.
Republicans claim that the Biden administration’s push for vaccine requirements and masking rules is only infringing upon Americans’ freedoms and hurting their economy. However, Democrats and the administration’s health advisors insist that these steps are essential to stop virus spread.
“Fox News Sunday”: “We’ve seen that, if you’re vaccinated or not and gather with people outside of your household in indoor areas, that wearing masks is a recommended step to reduce the spread of the disease,” Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General, said.
He said, “These are tough measures that we put in place, and, you know. I think we’ve continuously shown a desire for every lever we can use to ensure that people are protected and they’re vaccinated and we get this pandemic under control as quickly as possible.”