Biden administration considers COVID testing requirement for domestic travel
(KYMA, KECY) - The Biden administration considers requiring negative COVID-19 test results for domestic air travel.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg tells CNN, "There's an active conversation with the CDC right now. What I can tell you is, it's going to be guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out."
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director said that screening U.S. travelers for COVID could be helpful.
However, some airlines don't agree. Delta's Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said mandatory testing takes away from other priorities. "Citing few documented cases of COVID transmission aboard airliners and concerns that testing for air travelers would take testing resources away from areas of greater need. It will not keep domestic fliers safer," said Bastian.
Other airlines continue to express concerns of possible testing requirements for domestic air travel in a recent letter to the White House. Adding that if the administration prescribes a testing mandate, then funding should be provided to comply.
