ASTA this week wrote to CDC director Robert Redfield requesting several changes to the CDC's new order requiring proof of a negative Covid-19 test for travelers to enter the U.S.
"While we understand the rationale behind the CDC's Jan. 12 order, it will create a number of challenges for our members, ranging from ensuring that clients can obtain testing in-destination without disrupting their return trip to the implications of a positive test (or a false positive) while abroad, to a general chilling effect on future bookings," the ASTA CEO Zane Kerby wrote.
The Society asked that the CDC delay the order's effective date until at least Feb. 28, instead of Jan. 28, to enable airlines to train staff, destinations to ramp testing capabilities and to give additional preparation time to other stakeholders.
In the order, the CDC states that airlines can get waivers based on the CDC's determination that a foreign country lacks available testing capacity. Waivers are to be granted based on specific requests from airlines and will be limited to 14 days.
ASTA asked that the CDC, not the airlines, be responsible for initiating that waiver process.
The Society also asked that the waiver authority "be implemented as quickly and as widely as possible" in any case where there is a question of a U.S. citizen's ability to get a timely, affordable test in a destination.
"We would note in particular that the stress this order places on returning travelers seeking to return home as planned opens the door to predatory pricing practices and similar abuses," Kerby wrote.
Finally, ASTA requested the CDC consider a "test-on-arrival system" for U.S. citizens returning home. The Society pointed to New York State's policy on travel, under which travelers quarantine at home upon arrival and get tested as soon as possible afterward; if they are negative, they are released from quarantine, and if positive, a further 10-day quarantine is required.