The Biden administration recently denied plans of promoting a domestic travel ban against Florida to suppress the spread of the COVID19 UK variant. This was a reaction to reports that the Biden administration is already discussing travel restrictions to and from Florida.
US Senator Marco Rubio sent a letter to President Joe Biden to denounce the said plan. He urged President Biden to “not pursue these draconian travel restrictions”. He also made a statement calling the proposed travel ban “unconstitutional”.
Florida tops the US in the number of B.1.1.7 cases or the more contagious COVID19 virus. This report raised the alarm among officials given the possibility of seeing more cases in the coming days.
The White House Official, however, mentioned that “all options are on the table”. This means that a ban isn’t far from reality.
Travel industry executives and representatives are currently discussing with Center for Disease Control officials regarding the possibility of having COVID19 testing for domestic flights.
On Joe Biden’s first day in the office, the president directed the CDC, Department of Transportation, and the Department of Homeland security to come up with recommendations on how to ramp up public health measures on domestic travel.
The move to require testing gained opposition from airline companies. Among executives against the proposed testing is Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian. He said that “I think it’d be a horrible idea for a lot of reasons” during his interview on CNN. He also added that this could further divert the country’s limited testing resources. On average, the US airline industry accommodates 1 million passengers per day.
Tori Emerson Barnes who works as the executive vice president of public affairs and policy at the US Travel Association mentioned that mandatory tests for domestic flights would require a 42% increase in the country’s testing capacity.
COVID19 cases in Florida dropped in recent weeks. However, the UK variant is currently spreading at a rapid pace. It now accounts for up to 15% of the new cases in Florida. Experts suggest that the number of UK variant cases will double every ten days.
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