Three dozen legislators are urging the federal government to demand confirmation of complete immunization or a negative coronavirus test to board domestic flights as the Christmas travel season approaches.
Lawmakers are Urging To Have Additional Travel Restrictions
In a letter submitted to President Joe Biden, the new travel limitations would ensure Americans can travel safely to see their loved ones over the holidays while also reducing the household introduction and spread of COVID-19 from visiting family and friends, according to a recently published article in Newsweek.
The drive for stricter regulations comes less than a week after the U.S. amended its international air travel admission rules. Most foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, must be completely vaccinated as of Monday. All passengers aged two and older who have not recently recovered from COVID-19 must demonstrate a negative coronavirus test to enter.
The Democratic lawmakers said that expanding vaccination and testing rules to domestic air travel would strengthen Americans' trust in travel and promote the recovery of the country's tourism and hospitality sectors, as well as benefit public health by forcing more people to get vaccinated, according to a published report in USA Today.
Letter Cited a Result of a Poll
The letter cites research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, which revealed that nearly four out of ten persons who stated they wanted to wait and see how the vaccine worked for other people before being vaccinated themselves were more likely to obtain the dose needed to travel on an airline.
The letter, dated Thursday but released Friday, also requests that train and other forms of public transportation safety regulations be modified to reflect new information on how to stop the virus from spreading, according to Press From.
This isn't the first time legislators have attempted to tighten safety regulations for domestic flights. Senator Dianne Feinstein of California, whose name appears on the letter, sponsored the legislation in September that would require all domestic aircraft passengers to be completely vaccinated, fully recovered, or test negative for the coronavirus before boarding.
Some Tourism Industry Chastised the Proposal
Some have questioned vaccination requirements for travelers in the tourist sector. In a statement released on September 13, Vice President of Public Affairs and Policy Tori Emerson Barnes of the United States Travel Association noted that requiring vaccinations would be "unfair" to families with children who are not eligible for the vaccine.
In a published article in World Fish News, Barnes said, "The science-including studies from the Harvard School of Public Health and the U.S. Department of Defense-overwhelmingly points to the safety of air travel as long as masks are worn. And with the federal mask mandate for all forms of public transportation and U.S. airports extended through January 2022, proper tools are already in place to enable safe air travel for Americans."
Meanwhile, Gypsyamber D'Souza, an epidemiology professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told a news outlet that she expects an increase in cases in the coming months but that widespread vaccination will keep the outbreak from being as serious as it was in 2020.
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