U.S. considering requiring proof of negative coronavirus test for domestic air travel

An American Airlines ticket agent checks in a passenger.
(Image credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said federal officials are discussing whether passengers will have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test before being allowed on board domestic flights, telling Axios on HBO that any decision will 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."

In order to try to keep more contagious coronavirus variants found in Britain and South Africa out of the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in January announced that in order to board an international flight to the U.S., a passenger must show a negative test result. On Monday, reporters asked CDC Director Rochelle Walensky about expanding coronavirus testing at airports, and she said this could help keep people who do not know they are infected from spreading the virus.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.