CDC Says Fully Vaccinated Can Travel

The US Centers for Disease Control has updated its travel advice, indicating that fully vaccinated people can resume domestic travel and do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.

Updated on April 2, 2021, the CDC also indicates that fully vaccinated people do not need to get tested before leaving the United States (unless required by the destination) or self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.

And while the CDC has updated its travel advice, it continues to discourage non-essential travel.

Reacting to the CDC announcement, U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow said that: “The CDC’s new travel guidance is a major step in the right direction that is supported by the science and will take the brakes off the industry that has been hardest hit by the fallout of COVID by far. As travel comes back, U.S. jobs come back.”

Dow continued: “The CDC’s data suggests that vaccinated individuals don’t transmit the coronavirus, which opens the door much wider for resuming travel, albeit while continuing to carefully follow other health best practices. Acknowledging that vaccinations eliminate the need for testing and quarantines removes a key barrier to domestic travel. Rescinding the recommendation that international visitors must quarantine also is an important incremental step.”

And US Travel’s boss added: “The year-long halt on travel has devastated U.S. employment, with travel-supported jobs accounting for 65% of all U.S. jobs lost last year, and this is an opportunity to begin reclaiming a lot of what’s been lost. The travel industry’s mantra throughout the pandemic has been to be guided by the science, which clearly shows that now is the right time for this move.”

Said Dow: “Meanwhile, it remains important that all eligible Americans get vaccinated as soon as they can in order to more quickly recover the ability for all to travel freely.”

In its updated advice, the CDC states that fully vaccinated people can:

• Visit with other fully vaccinated people indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Visit with unvaccinated people from a single household who are at low risk for severe COVID-19 disease indoors without wearing masks or physical distancing
• Refrain from quarantine and testing following a known exposure if asymptomatic
• Resume domestic travel and refrain from testing before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
• Refrain from testing before leaving the United States for international travel (unless required by the destination) and refrain from self-quarantine after arriving back in the United States.

For now, fully vaccinated people should continue to:

• Take precautions in public like wearing a well-fitted mask and physical distancing
• Wear masks, practice physical distancing, and adhere to other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people who are at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease or who have an unvaccinated household member who is at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease
• Wear masks, maintain physical distance, and practice other prevention measures when visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households
• Avoid medium- and large-sized in-person gatherings
• Get tested if experiencing COVID-19 symptoms
• Follow guidance issued by individual employers
• Follow CDC and health department travel requirements and recommendations

Go to https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/fully-vaccinated-guidance.html