New USA cdc requirements

[uncfnp]

I see a burgeoning black market for counterfeit test results- or "labs" that pop up and offer guaranteed results.

The time share hawkers and cruise ship remoras need a new hustle, this is perfect!

I have had to show negative results for travel during the pandemic, and the checkers often barely glimpse at the paperwork. As long as the names match, the results are negative and the dates are good, everyone got the red stamp.

Not saying this is right or wrong, just observing that a system/process is only as good as it's controls.

It’s along the same lines as the temperature checks and health screens, looks good on paper and in the media but provides very little real benefit.

The time to lockdown international travel was January/February when it might have had a real impact on the spread. That cat is out of the bag. The effort now seems to be preventing the spread of variants but I have a hard time seeing how this broad approach will help when a more focused but intensive restriction could target the problem directly.

 

[lowwall]

If you read the actual order (attached), you'll see that this new requirement is an attempt to minimize the importation of the even more highly infective UK and South African variants of the virus.

Frankly, discouraging international leisure travel is a good idea given current global conditions. Why not use this time to try local or your country's destination diving locations?

 

[uncfnp]

If you read the actual order (attached), you'll see that this new requirement is an attempt to minimize the importation of the even more highly infective UK and South African variants of the virus.

Frankly, discouraging international leisure travel is a good idea given current global conditions. Why not use this time to try local or your country's destination diving locations?

For how long? The virus is not going away.

The problem is not travel, it is human behavior. If you want to limit spread then stop the activities known to promote spread; stop needless group gatherings, use a good mask (they are widely available now) and wear it correctly and isolate when sick. These three simple steps would do more than all the (largely unnecessary) testing.

 

[lowwall]

For how long? The virus is not going away.

The problem is not travel, it is human behavior. If you want to limit spread then stop the activities known to promote spread; stop needless group gatherings, use a good mask (they are widely available now) and wear it correctly and isolate when sick. These three simple steps would do more than all the (largely unnecessary) testing.

Right. But people don't do that despite all the public health agencies urging them to do so. It certainly hasn't helped that some popular politicians have been discouraging these efforts.

So the choice is partially effective measures like this or do nothing and let tens of millions die. We have already seen that when a local health system get overwhelmed, fatality rates skyrocket.

 

[uncfnp]

Right. But people don't do that despite all the public health agencies urging them to do so. It certainly hasn't helped that some popular politicians have been discouraging these efforts.

So the choice is partially effective measures like this or do nothing and let tens of millions die. We have already seen that when a local health system get overwhelmed, fatality rates skyrocket.

But instituting steps that look good but don’t work only serves to give false security and ultimately promote poor choices. For international travel, the step that would provide real value is to stop travel to/from targeted regions and impose real quarantine to those that must travel. And enforce it.

 

[lowwall]

The whole world is a targeted region. Both variants have been detected in multiple countries and it obviously can spread as fast as an airliner can travel.

Yes, completely shutting down non-essential travel and quarantining everyone else would greatly cut down cross-border transmission. But we are dealing with reality here. And the reality is that multiple layers of partially effective strategies are better than none at all and are politically viable in countries where a full Wuhan-style lockdown would be impossible.

 

[uncfnp]

The whole world is a targeted region. Both variants have been detected in multiple countries and it obviously can spread as fast as an airliner can travel.

Yes, completely shutting down non-essential travel and quarantining everyone else would greatly cut down cross-border transmission. But we are dealing with reality here. And the reality is that multiple layers of partially effective strategies are better than none at all and are politically viable in countries where a full Wuhan-style lockdown would be impossible.

And here we will just have to disagree. The world is not the target (yet) and indeed there is some suggestion that the global testing requirement is an effort by some to ultimately reopen travel from the UK and other now restricted regions.

Half measures and political compromises have brought us to where we are today. Making more bad choices is not the solution.

 

[uncfnp]

Some updated info.

Seems the test can be PCR or antigen (antigen tests have been previously shown as a poor test for asymptomatic individuals with a high false negatives rate) and previous infection is defined as a positive test in the 3 months prior to travel and a letter from a health professional clearing the individual to travel.

Anybody else foresee an airport kiosk for on the spot testing?

 

[tarponchik]

Because the WHO has stated that someone with the vaccine could become a asymptomatic carrier of the virus.

And all of a sudden CDC pays attention to WHO?

 

[kmarks]

Anybody else foresee an airport kiosk for on the spot testing?

Math problem: If 500 people all crowd that kiosk to get their last-second tests and 2 of them are positive, how many are now positive?

If we really want this virus to go away, then everyone in the world needs to lock themselves in their houses for an entire month and not go anywhere or interact with anyone. Like you stated earlier, people don't start showing symptoms or have a high enough viral load for a few days after exposure (especially for the antigen test), so having a requirement for a test 3 days prior to travel with no quarantine between the test and travel is nonsense. You should be required to have a negative test, hole up in a secure location for three days, then have another negative test immediately before you travel, but that's impossible. This is all just as much security theater as taking your shoes off to go through the backscatter machine.