U.S. To Require COVID-19 Tests For Travelers From China

On Wednesday, the Biden administration announced new COVID-19 testing requirements for travelers coming to the United States from China in response to increasing COVID-19 infections in the Communist country.

According to Politico, “Beginning Jan. 5, anyone older than 2 years old arriving from China, Hong Kong or Macau will need to show a negative result from a Covid-19 test taken within two days of their flight. The requirement applies to all passengers regardless of nationality or vaccination status, those connecting through other countries, and people transferring through U.S. airports to other destinations.”

“In addition to passengers coming directly from China, people arriving from South Korea’s Incheon International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport and Vancouver International Airport will be required to provide negative Covid-19 tests two days before flying to the U.S. if they’ve been in China within the past 10 days,” the outlet added. 

The announcement comes after the Chinese government loosened its strict COVID-19 policies, which included mass testing, tracing, and lockdowns, following mass protests in the country over the strategy. China has subsequently ceased publicly releasing data on COVID-19 infections, although previous data released by the Communist country was also believed to be inaccurate. 

“Predeparture testing and the requirement to show a negative test result decreases the number of infected passengers boarding airplanes and it will help to slow the spread of the virus as we work through identifying and understand any potential new variants that may emerge,” a federal health official told reporters on Wednesday, according to Politico.

It should be noted that U.S. health experts are doubtful that requiring COVID-19 tests from inbound passengers will actually help reduce infections in the United States. 

“We’ve never been able to demonstrate that border closings or screening as such have made any material difference in the risk of the disease in another country,” said Michael Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.