CDC: Vaccinated Americans can now travel
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that fully vaccinated Americans can resume domestic and overseas travel as long as they wear masks in public.
The individuals do not need to get a Covid-19 test before or after domestic travel and do not need to self-quarantine on return, as long as they follow public health measures.
In addition, the agency said fully vaccinated Americans do not need a Covid-19 test for international travel unless it is required by the country they are traveling to, and they do not need to quarantine upon reentry to the U.S. Fully vaccinated Americans that choose to travel internationally still need to receive a negative Covid-19 test no more than three days before traveling back to the U.S.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said Friday that Americans should still try to avoid travel because the number of Covid-19 cases are rising across the country. However, she said, traveling is lower-risk for fully vaccinated individuals.
"We must balance this guidance with the fact that most Americans are still not vaccinated," Walensky said.
The announcement comes as Covid-19 vaccinations continue to ramp up across the country. More than 50 percent of Americans 65 and older are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, and more than 3 million people are receiving a shot per day.
The CDC released initial guidelines for vaccinated Americans last month, saying fully vaccinated individuals should limit their social interactions to small gatherings in the home with other fully vaccinated individuals, wear masks in public and adhere to other public-health measures such as social distancing for the foreseeable future. The agency did not include guidance on travel.
Since then, senior CDC officials have been working on a new draft to address how and under what circumstances fully vaccinated Americans can travel to, for example, see family members who are also fully vaccinated.
The travel guidance was delayed in part, according to two senior administration officials, because the agency wanted to ensure it could clearly communicate what it knew and didn’t know about how Covid-19 is transmitted after vaccination.