CDC Director Supports Domestic US Flight COVID Testing Plan

Simple Flying

By Linnea Ahlgren

Published Feb 9, 2021

BURLINGAME, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 06: A Southwest Airlines plane lands next to a United Airlines plane at San Francisco International Airport on March 06, 2020 in Burlingame, California. In the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, airlines are facing significant losses as people are cancelling travel plans and businesses are restricting travel. Southwest Airlines says they expect to lose between $200 to $300 million dollars in the coming weeks. Other airlines like United and Jet Blue are cutting flights. The International Air Transport Association predicts that carriers could lose between $63 billion and $113 billion this year. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Director for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rochelle Walensky, has spoken in support of a US domestic preflight testing plan. During a press briefing Monday, she said that testing for domestic departures could help reduce COVID-19 transmission by detecting asymptomatic cases.

Detection to decrease the spread

Meanwhile, Dr Walensky said it would be better if people were to choose not to travel at this time. While daily new case counts have been consistently falling, the total number of cases in the US amount to close to 28 million. Concerns remain that new, more contagious variants of the virus could cause yet another surge in infections.

"The more screening we are doing in places where people are gathering, the more asymptomatic diseases we will be detecting. Certainly, there is a lot of gathering that happens in airports. (...) First and foremost, I would encourage people to not travel, but if we are traveling, this would be yet another mitigation measure to try and decrease the spread," Dr Walensky said.

She did not, however, say whether or not the CDC would be implementing such a regimen, currently being considered by the Biden administration.

Rochelle Walensky assumed office on January 21st, 2021, having previously served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusets General Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

In Monday's briefing, she urged state and local officials not to loosen restrictions despite a decline in cases. Fears are that the new, more infectious mutations, particularly the one known as "the British variant," will take over and become the dominant strains in the US.

Stay informed: Sign up for our daily aviation news digest.

Decision to be informed by data and industry input

Pete Buttigieg, recently appointed Secretary for Transporation (who is himself currently quarantining following a positive COVID-19 test by a security agent) said in an interview with Axios that the decision concerning domestic testing would be,

“...guided by data, by science, by medicine, and by the input of the people who are actually going to have to carry this out.”

Airport Testing Getty — Arrivals from amber countries are still required to quarantine and take two PCR tests. Photo: Getty Images

Airlines in opposition

As expected, the idea of mandatory domestic testing is not a favorite with US airlines. Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly called the potential move "a mistake," saying it would be very costly. He added that eyes needed to stay on the ball of getting the vaccines rolled out as quickly as possible.

He was joined in his criticism of the potentially looming measure by Joanna Geraghty, JetBlue COO, who said that air travel was just one means of domestic transportation and people would find other ways of getting to where they want to go. She also raised concerns about the accessibility and reliability of testing capacity in some parts of the country.

What do you think of domestic testing? Would it help detect cases, or would it be "a mistake"? Tell us in the comments.