(CMR) United States President, Joe Bide, has made some significant changes to the COVID-19 testing requirement for international travel into the United States of America after five states have now reported confirmed cases of the Omicron variant. All travelers entering the country must test negative one day before their departure regardless of vaccination status. The new rule will take effect at 12:01 a.m. ET on Monday.
The announcement was made on Thursday and still allows non-vaccinated Americans to travel globally and re-enter the United States for now. The White House said earlier in the day that a vaccine requirement for domestic travel remained on the table as an option for the future. He noted that the new requirements were designed to buy them more time to learn more as scientists continued to study the new variant.
Currently, vaccinated travelers are required to test three days before their departures.
The administration will extend the requirement to wear masks on planes and public transportation to March 18 both internationally and domestically.
At least nine cases of the omicron variant have now been identified across Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, New York and California. Hawaii became the fifth state in the nation to report a case of the variant, shortly after officials in New York announced that they had identified five confirmed cases in the state. Some of the infected had a travel history to southern Africa. However, one case in Minnesota was from a resident who had recently returned from the Anime convention in New York.
The president continued to encourage people to get fully vaccinated and get their booster shots. He said that they were securing additional vaccines and boosters and introduced a plan to make the vaccines more widely available across the country. He announced his administration was launched hundreds of family vaccination centers.
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