U.S. Enforces Stricter Covid Testing Rules for Travelers

 U.S. Enforces Stricter Covid Testing Rules for Travelers

Inbound travelers must now show a negative result from a test taken no more than a day before departure, a requirement some say may be hard to satisfy.

Published Dec. 6, 2021

Updated Dec. 7, 2021, 6:13 a.m. ET

Follow our live coverage of the coronavirus pandemic and the Omicron variant.

Here’s what you need to know:

Stricter requirements take effect for inbound travelers to the U.S.

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Early reports suggest Omicron is fast moving but perhaps less severe.

France closes nightclubs for four weeks, but rejects adding other major restrictions.

Europe is on edge as Omicron cases rise quickly before the holidays.

Stricter requirements take effect for inbound travelers to the U.S.

ImageTravelers at Kennedy International Airport on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Travelers at Kennedy International Airport on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.Credit...DeSean McClinton-Holland for The New York Times

The United States began requiring international travelers on Monday to provide proof of a negative coronavirus test taken no more than a day before their flights. The move, intended to limit the spread of the Omicron variant, is causing headaches for many passengers.

Previously, fully vaccinated travelers could provide proof of a negative test taken within 72 hours of departure. The new requirement may be difficult for some to satisfy, because it can take more than a day to receive test results.

The new rules have some travelers wondering if they can stick to their planned itineraries. They are one more hurdle to clear for Americans who are living outside the United States and for foreigners hoping to visit for Christmas and New Year’s. From London to Taipei, travelers have been thinking about the scenarios that could emerge on a trip, like what would happen if a flight is canceled or if the traveler tests positive along the way.

NAVIGATING NEW RULES

Read more about how travelers to the United States are dealing with the stronger testing requirements.

August Dichter, 24, said on Monday that he had already spent two to three hours trying to figure out how to meet the testing requirement for his scheduled flight on Thursday to Philadelphia from London. Mr. Dichter, an American who just completed a yearlong master’s degree program in Wales, said he had gotten conflicting messages from the airline, with some guidelines describing the new requirement and others still saying he had a 72-hour window.

Mr. Dichter said he had been looking forward to traveling around Europe during his studies, but that it had not been easy

“It’s been a lot of hoops to jump through, and I know that I’m going to be able to jump through them all,” he said. “But they seem to just keep being so tedious, and to add up, and make the arrival of coming home feel just a little further away.”

Global coronavirus cases by region

This chart shows how reported cases per capita have changed in different parts of the world.

Sources: Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University and state and local health agencies (cases); World Bank and U.S. Census Bureau (population data).

Another American, Candace Thomas, and her partner, James Ridgers, flew to London from Los Angeles last week for a funeral and said that keeping up with the rule changes has been difficult.

“It’s been very confusing,” said Ms. Thomas, 36, as she and Mr. Ridgers, 43, waited in a long line at St. Pancras train station in London on Monday to get tested before their flight on Tuesday.

“I’m confused right now, actually,” Mr. Ridgers said, because the couple did not have an appointment at the St. Pancras testing center and were unsure if they needed one. They found out soon after that they could not get tested as walk-ins, and made an appointment for three hours later.

The start to their trip was complicated, too. They arrived before Britain’s two-day quarantine requirement came into effect and ended up quarantining unnecessarily for a day because they were unsure whether the requirement applied to them. New rules also required a P.C.R. test, so they spent more than 80 British pounds ($106) each on tests for Day 2 of their trip.

“Every morning, it was waking up to tune in to the news to find out if it had changed or if we were going to need to quarantine for longer, or if we were even going to be able to come home,” Ms. Thomas said. “It was really touch-and-go there for a little while.”

More than a dozen countries around the world, including the United States, have gone a step beyond testing requirements and have barred travelers who have recently been in any of eight southern African countries. Health experts have criticized that policy and have urged caution, because so little is known yet about the Omicron variant, which was first detected and sequenced less than two weeks ago in South Africa.

KEEP THE RESERVATION?

Read how some travelers are reassessing their plans as reports of the Omicron coronavirus variant increase.

Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, tried to add some perspective on Sunday on the ABC News program “This Week.”

“What we don’t yet know is how transmissible it will be, how well our vaccines will work, whether it will lead to more severe disease,” Dr. Walensky said.

The stricter testing requirement for inbound travelers took effect just as airline travel was experiencing a rebound. The Sunday after Thanksgiving was the busiest travel day at U.S. airports since February 2020, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

— Juston Jones and Jenny Gross

Tracking the Coronavirus ›

United States

Avg. on Dec. 6 14-day change

New cases 119,751 +28%

New deaths 1,266 +13%

World

Avg. on Dec. 6 14-day change

609,309 +10%

7,553 Flat

U.S. hot spots ›

US coronavirus cases

Global hot spots ›

Global coronavirus cases

Tracking Omicron ›

Map of Omicron cases in the United States

Map of Omicron cases worldwide

Other trackers: Look up your county

U.S. vaccinations

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France

U.K.

Mich.

Minn.

N.H.

With its private-sector vaccine mandate, N.Y.C. has gone where few other U.S. cities and counties have.

A vaccination site located inside the Brooklyn Children’s Museum in the Crown Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn.Credit...Anna Watts for The New York Times

The coronavirus vaccine mandate for private employers in New York City, announced by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday, pushed the city’s workplace vaccination requirements well beyond those in most of the country, where local mandates are generally limited to the public sector and health care.

“It’s a significantly more sweeping policy than we’ve seen other cities put in place,” said Emily Gee, a senior fellow on health policy at the Center for American Progress.

At least 22 states now require coronavirus vaccination for some categories of workers, like those employed by the state or in health care settings or schools, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Dozens of counties and cities, including New York City, have also imposed vaccine requirements on those kinds of workers.

Some workers at restaurants, nightclubs and sports and entertainment venues have been required to get vaccinated in cities that require patrons to present proof of vaccination, like New York City and San Francisco. But otherwise, these mandates have largely left private-sector employers untouched.

Under New York City’s new mandate for private employers, employees who work in-person at private companies must have one dose of the vaccine by Dec. 27. Remote workers will not be required to get the vaccine. There is no testing option as an alternative.

At the federal level, the Biden administration’s mandates for government employees and the military are in effect, but those covering private employers are tied up in court.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued an “emergency” rule in November requiring vaccination or weekly testing for most employees of companies with at least 100 workers, but the rule was stayed last month by a federal court, putting enforcement on hold. Similarly, a nationwide mandate covering most health care workers was recently blocked when a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction.

In general, under federal law, private employers can act on their own to require their workers to be vaccinated, and some major companies have done so, with apparent success. United Airlines, which requires its 67,000 U.S. employees to be vaccinated, said in September that more than 99 percent had complied. Tyson Foods said in October that more than 96 percent of its workers had their shots, up from less than half before the company announced its mandate in August.

A survey of employers last month found that more than half of respondents either already required employees to be vaccinated or planned to do so. The survey, conducted by Willis Towers Watson, a consulting firm, found that just three percent of respondents with vaccine mandates had seen a spike in staff resignations.

Some state governments, though, have adopted laws or issued orders forbidding employers from requiring workers to show proof of vaccination against the coronavirus.

Even so, labor experts say that workplace vaccination requirements are crucial, both to stop the spread of the virus and to encourage more people to return to the labor force.

“Employers are having a hard time getting workers, because workers don’t want to jeopardize their safety and their health,” said Debbie Berkowitz, a former chief of staff at OSHA.

Still, many businesses are reluctant to enforce their own vaccine requirements.

“Employers are hesitant to mandate vaccines, particularly in areas where there is a lot of hesitancy and where vaccines have been politicized,” Ms. Gee said.

With employers worried about alienating customers or workers, and federal efforts tied up in litigation, she said, it is up to local governments to step in with vaccine mandates for private workplaces.

“It is in cities’ self-interest to do this,” Ms. Gee said.

— Sophie Kasakove