What You Should Know About the New COVID Travel Regulations Starting Today
If you are planning an international trip (or are on it right now), it is time to brush up on the rules related to COVID because testing requirements have changed and they are effective today . Also, remember how the Biden administration decided in early November that travel bans were a bad idea ? They are back.
You now need to take the test the day before you leave for your trip.
When traveling to (or returning to) the United States, you will need to test negative for the virus. Until recently, vaccinated travelers could take this test three days before departure. This was handy for scheduling and also gave you extra time in case the location where your test is being processed takes time to get results. But now everyone is back to the one-day need, whether they are vaccinated or not.
This is based on calendar days, so no matter what time your flight is on Tuesday, you can take the test anytime on Monday. You are still encouraged (but not required) to get tested for the virus three to five days after returning home and quarantined for seven days.
Exceptions: Children under 2 years of age do not need the test, and people who have recovered from COVID in the past 90 days may miss the test if they have medical records documenting their illness.
These changes mean you need to plan a little more. If you are traveling to another country, do you know where you can take the test before flying home? How long will this test site give you results? USA Today recommends, instead of relying on standard PCR tests, to look at which rapid tests are approved by the CDC and use one of them. Some self-tests are allowed, although this rule only counts self-tests in which you perform the test during a video call with a healthcare professional.
Country travel bans are back
Just weeks after dropping the entire concept of nationwide travel bans, COVID travel bans are back . There are now eight African countries on the list. If you are a US citizen, you can still travel to the US from these countries; otherwise, you cannot travel to the United States if you spent any time in those countries within the 14 days prior to departure. These are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The travel ban, which came into effect on November 26, is intended to slow the spread of the Omicron variant, although Omicron is known to be spreading in many parts of the world, including 17 US states .
If all of this is confusing, the CDC has a flowchart for you to figure out which travel rules apply to you. There is also a quiz version.