Americans who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 can travel “at low risk to themselves,” both within the United States and internationally, but they must continue to take precautions like wearing a mask in public, avoiding crowds, maintaining social distancing and washing hands frequently, federal health officials said on Friday.
Vaccinated Americans do not need to get a coronavirus test before arriving in another country, unless required to do so by authorities at the destination, and they do not need to quarantine after returning to the United States unless required to do so by local jurisdictions, according to new recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after receiving the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, or two weeks after receiving the second dose of the two-dose regimen from Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna.
The recommendations issued Friday do not alter the C.D.C. travel guidelines for the unvaccinated. The agency continues to discourage non-essential domestic travel by those who are not fully immunized, saying that if they must travel, they should be tested for coronavirus infection one to three days before their trip and again three to five days after concluding their trip. Unvaccinated travelers should self-quarantine for seven to 10 days if they don’t get tested after a trip, the agency said.
Some destinations and cruise lines already have started requiring that travelers be fully vaccinated. The cruise line Royal Caribbean is requiring passengers and crew members 18 or older to be vaccinated in order to board its ships, as are Virgin Voyages, Crystal Cruises and others.
For the moment, airlines are not requiring vaccinations for travel. But the idea has been much talked about in the industry.
On Sunday, nearly 1.6 million passengers boarded domestic flights, the most on any day since the pandemic began.
Category: Science
Source: New York Times
