Any updates on requirement for negative Covid test to enter US?

[Joneill]

I don't recall reading that the value is "absolutely nothing." Antigen tests aren't as sensitive as PCR, and so there are many false negatives. And it's certainly possible to become infected after taking the test and before boarding the flight. But from what I have read it is my understanding that even antigen tests 24 hours before a flight can manage to flag a significant number of contagious people. The more contagious people we keep out, the better, right?

The value is “absolutely nothing” if, as you said, the concern is bringing in new variants. It only takes one traveler to do that and the antigen testing will not even remotely prevent that - so what’s the value?

My POV is that, being now almost 2.5 years into this crap, we just need to get back to normal and let this thing run it’s course.

 

[tursiops]

The value is “absolutely nothing” if, as you said, the concern is bringing in new variants. It only takes one traveler to do that and the antigen testing will not even remotely prevent that - so what’s the value?

My POV is that, being now almost 2.5 years into this crap, we just need to get back to normal and let this thing run it’s course.

By trying to characterize prevention measures as either 100% effective or 100% useless, you paint yourself into a hopeless corner, both logically, factually, and psychologically. Good luck.

 

[Joneill]

By trying to characterize prevention measures as either 100% effective or 100% useless, you paint yourself into a hopeless corner, both logically, factually, and psychologically. Good luck.

Sorry - but I disagree. My point is that the return antigen test serves no meaningful prevention purpose at this point so, in practical terms, it’s pretty much useless. What value do you think it has?

 

[rmssetc]

My POV is that, being now almost 2.5 years into this crap, we just need to get back to normal and let this thing run it’s course.

You're talking about a disease that:

• is endemic
• has killed over 1M Americans so far
• will leave about 20% of the survivors with persistent physical and neurological symptoms

None of that was "normal" 3 years ago, so dropping all the restrictions, guidelines, suggestions for masking, vaccination, social distancing, etc, won't bring us "back to normal" and this thing won't just "run it's course" and stop affecting people.

The current vaccines are amazingly effective at reducing serious illness, as measured by hospitalization and death. They are less effective at reducing transmission and long-term symptoms.

If there was a new vaccine that had similar efficacy (90%+) at reducing less-serious (long-term) illness, reducing spread, and enough people were vaccinated to significantly reduce the spread, then I would completely agree with you about dropping [many of? all of?] the social & legal & employer-mandated restrictions....but we aren't there, either scientifically or socially.

 

[rmssetc]

Sorry - but I disagree. My point is that the return antigen test serves no meaningful prevention purpose at this point so, in practical terms, it’s pretty much useless. What value do you think it has?

Speaking for myself, I'd say the return antigen test has value in keeping someone who is actively infectious from sitting next to me on a plane for many hours.

I hope that everyone has enough consideration for their fellow human beings to want to avoid making other people sick.

 

[rongoodman]

The problem with dropping these various restrictions too soon is the difficulty in reimposing them if it becomes necessary. Numbers of infections are skyrocketing in New York but the local health officials haven't even re-instituted mask requirements in senior citizens housing. Luckily, the current variant isn't as lethal as the original strains, but if a more dangerous one should appear, we'll have less tools at our disposal to deal with it, at least until a lot of people die from it.

 

[tridacna]

If they are worried about keeping infected people out, then why do they not apply the same standards to land-based crossings?

I don’t know the answer to this: Do pax on cruiseships have to test negative to enter a US port?

Answer: "The new rule, which takes effect on Monday, Dec. 6, only applies to travelers flying into the U.S. In addition to travelers arriving by ship, travelers arriving by car and other vehicles at border crossings with Canada and Mexico also will be exempt from the rule."

Talk about hypocrisy.

 

[Jcp2]

If they are worried about keeping infected people out, then why do they not apply the same standards to land-based crossings?

I don’t know the answer to this: Do pax on cruiseships have to test negative to enter a US port?

Answer: "The new rule, which takes effect on Monday, Dec. 6, only applies to travelers flying into the U.S. In addition to travelers arriving by ship, travelers arriving by car and other vehicles at border crossings with Canada and Mexico also will be exempt from the rule."

Talk about hypocrisy.

If they controlled land crossings the same way then Ontario-Michigan trade and cross border commuting for O visa holders would really be screwed up, and we would be back into supply chain problems for heavy manufacturing in the Midwest.

 

[Shasta_man]

I speculate that they focused on air travel because that method could quickly spread a new bad strain quickly vs the other methods of travel. Via air travel, people from all over the world can be here in a matter of hours, a lot of infected people could be pumped in quickly and those people would quickly spread it all over the country within a day. So if a new bad strain develops literally anywhere in the world, it could be here in volume in short order. People would also come via the other methods but at a much slower rate with more time to react if a variant develops. I'd agree that the testing also lingers because it will be very difficult to reimpose if completely dropped given the current disaster of aligning people on public health.

 

[tursiops]

I speculate that they focused on air travel because that method could quickly spread a new bad strain quickly vs the other methods of travel. Via air travel, people from all over the world can be here in a matter of hours, a lot of infected people could be pumped in quickly and those people would quickly spread it all over the country within a day. So if a new bad strain develops literally anywhere in the world, it could be here in volume in short order. People would also come via the other methods but at a much slower rate with more time to react if a variant develops. I'd agree that the testing also lingers because it will be very difficult to reimpose if completely dropped given the current disaster of aligning people on public health.

Interesting point!