STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Potential plans to require a negative coronavirus (COVID-19) test for domestic air travel have been met with stiff opposition by the travel industry.
In late-January, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it is currently considering requiring all passengers of domestic flights to provide a negative coronavirus test before taking off.
“We are actively looking at it,” said Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine.
“I think this is a really important part of our toolkit to combat this pandemic,” Cetron said, in reference to increased testing.
It’s currently unclear how a testing requirement for domestic flights would operate or who would be tasked with enforcing it.
In the days since floating the idea, travel associations and airline operators have quickly voiced their disapproval, noting that air travel has not been found to be a significant spreader of the coronavirus and that the requirement would force the country to greatly enhance its testing capacity.
On Jan. 29, Airlines for America, the industry trade organization for leading U.S. airlines, alongside various other travel organizations, penned a letter to Jeffrey Zients, White House COVID-19 Recovery Team Coordinator, imploring the administration not to enact a testing requirement for domestic flights.
“We are concerned by recent media reports that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is considering a pre-departure testing requirement for domestic air travel,” according to the letter.
The letter references various studies indicating that the risk of contracting coronavirus on a flight is already incredibly low, even without testing requirements.
One study, conducted by the Harvard Aviation Public Health Initiative, found that air travel is as safe as, if not safer than, other common activities, like eating at a restaurant or shopping at the grocery store.
Another study, conducted by US TRANSCOM, found that “when masks are worn, there is a 0.003% chance that particles exhaled by a passenger can enter the breathing space of passengers sitting next to them.”
The letter also references a data analysis by the International Air Transport Association that showed that despite 1.2 billion airline travelers in 2020, there were only 44 reported cases of in-flight transmission, many of which occurred before mask requirements were implemented.
“Given the strong scientific evidence that the risk of COVID-19 transmission onboard an aircraft is very low, we believe that a testing requirement for domestic air travel is unwarranted,” according to the letter.
While the studies referenced in the letter indicate that the risk of viral spread is low on airplanes, data previously provided by New York City showed travel to be one of the primary spreaders of the novel coronavirus.
In November, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that contact tracers attributed approximately 10% of all coronavirus cases in the city to travel, though it did not specifically cite air travel as the primary culprit.
Travel advocates also note that a testing requirement for domestic travel would disproportionately impact low-income residents and those living in rural areas of the country.
“They may have less access to testing facilities, which could cause further job loss and economic harm to the most devastated sectors of the economy, who will need air service to take part in recovery,” the letter said.
Advocates also claim that a testing mandate for domestic flights would require a significant increase in testing capacity and could potentially divert resources from more pressing issues.
“For example, based on January 2021 data, a testing requirement for domestic air travel would necessitate a 42% increase in daily testing capacity nationwide,” according to the letter. “Although testing production is expected to increase, there is no question that a mandate of this magnitude would syphon public health resources away from more vulnerable populations such as nursing homes, medical facilities and schools.”
“Therefore, the costs and consequences of a testing requirement for domestic air travel would far outweigh any potential benefits,” the letter states.
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February 03, 2021 at 03:35AM
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