GBTA applauds the bipartisan effort to end the current testing requirement for all vaccinated inbound travelers to the United States. Moreover, GBTA calls on the Biden Administration to immediately end the testing requirements and move to allow vaccinated travelers to fly into the U.S.
The current rule requires all U.S. inbound travelers present a negative COVID-19 test within one day before boarding their flight into the U.S. and regardless of their vaccination status or citizenship.
Exempting fully vaccinated travelers, including almost 215 million Americans, from the order would be consistent with the scientific consensus that widespread vaccinations are the single most important element of the fight against COVID-19 while allowing the travel industry’s recovery to accelerate.
As business travel and travel at large struggle, many in GBTA’s business travel recovery surveys cite government requirements such as testing as a major, if not the greatest, barrier.
Yet, it is unclear whether at this stage in the pandemic the current testing rule is having any meaningful impact on the spread of COVID-19 from overseas destinations to the U.S. As of today, more than 78 million people have contracted COVID-19 in the U.S., meaning that at least 23 percent of the population has had the virus—though this figure is almost certainly underestimated due to the number of asymptomatic infections and limited testing early in the pandemic.
