Posted on 12/02/21
| News Source: NY Post
President Biden on Thursday will announce a COVID-19 “winter plan” that imposes new, but less strict than feared, international travel rules and mandates that health insurance companies pay for at-home COVID-19 rapid tests.
Air travelers to the US will have to test negative within one day of their flight, rather than within three days, but Biden opted against more draconian ideas reportedly under review amid fears about the potentially more contagious Omicron variant.
Biden’s team had considered forcing US citizens to do seven days of mandatory self-quarantine after returning from abroad and requiring them to test negative three to five days after arrival under threat of legal punishment, according to the Washington Post.
A senior administration official who briefed reporters on the new policies implied that they doubted such aggressive measures could be implemented effectively — after the possible steps sparked panic among Americans who travel for work or vacation.
“We’re not announcing any steps on post-arrival testing and quarantine,” the official said, saying the US had a “pretty strong system” for international arrivals by requiring testing before flights and requiring that most foreigners be vaccinated.