White House plans new system for international travel and contact tracing rules

White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeff Zients delivers remarks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 13, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) – (This September 15 article has been reclassified to correct a spelling mistake in the title)

The United States is developing a “new system for international travel” that will include contact tracing when it eventually lifts travel restrictions that prevent much of the world’s population from entering the country, a senior official said on Wednesday. White House official.

White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients told the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Council that the administration has no plans to immediately ease travel restrictions citing variant COVID-19 cases. Delta in the United States and around the world.

Reuters first reported in early August that the White House was developing vaccine entry requirements that could cover nearly all foreign visitors. The White House has previously confirmed that it is considering mandating vaccines for foreign international visitors.

“The American people need to trust that the new international travel system is safer even though we – I mean at that time – will let in more travelers,” Zients said Wednesday, adding that he will eventually replace the existing restrictions.

“We are considering considering vaccination requirements for foreign nationals traveling to the United States,” Zients said.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said at the same meeting that the surge in COVID-19 cases is preventing the lifting of restrictions on international travel. “We want to move to a metrics-based system,” Raimondo said. “Before we can do that, we have to get a better handle on the domestic situation, which requires us to get everyone vaccinated.”

Zients said the new plan would replace current restrictions and be “safer, stronger and sustainable”. He did not outline specific metrics for when the administration might ease restrictions.

“Vaccination rates are high here at home and in other countries,” Zients said, urging travel companies and airlines alike to quickly mandate employee vaccinations.

Some industry officials fear the Biden administration could lift travel restrictions for months or potentially until 2022.

The United States’ extraordinary travel restrictions were first imposed on China in January 2020 to combat the spread of COVID-19. Many other countries have been added, most recently India in May.

The administration wanted to lift travel restrictions “as soon as possible,” Zients said.

CONTACT TRACING

Zients said the new system will include collecting contact tracing data from passengers traveling to the United States to allow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to contact travelers in the event of exposure to COVID-19.

The Trump administration in 2020 blocked an effort to require airlines to collect contact tracing information from international passengers flying to the United States after some senior administration officials cited privacy concerns.

Zients said he wanted the new system to be “ready to go” when it is safe to lift the restrictions. “We understand the importance of this,” Zients said.

The US is currently banning most non-US citizens who in the last 14 days have been to the UK, Europe’s 26 Schengen countries without border controls, Ireland, China, India , South Africa, Iran and Brazil.

The United States separately bans non-essential travel for most non-US citizens across US land borders with Mexico and Canada.

Critics say the restrictions no longer make sense because some countries with high rates of COVID-19 infections are not on the shortlist while some countries on the list have the pandemic under control.

(This story refiles to correct spelling mistakes in the title)

Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bernadette Baum and Aurora Ellis

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