Testing passengers for COVID-19 before they board US domestic flights could reduce transmission, CDC says - as Delta s CEO slams it as a horrible idea
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said requiring domestic air travelers to receive negative COVID-19 tests before flight could be another mitigation measure
She said that that additional screening at places where people gather like airports could help detect more asymptomatic cases
However, Walensky did not say if CDC will move forward with such a policy, which the Biden administration has previously said it is actively considering
Meanwhile, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian slammed it as a horrible idea
A new study found that B.1.1.7 was present in 0.2% of cases in the U.S. in October, and was found to be present 3.6% at the end of January, with cases appearing to double every 10 days.
Just over 96,000 new coronavirus cases and 1,474 deaths were reported nationwide on Sunday as infection numbers continue to fall and the vaccine rollout picks up speed.
As of Saturday, 8.3 million Americans have received both doses of a vaccine, amounting to 2.5 percent of the total population, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
The US is only sequencing about 2,300 coronavirus genomes a week in search of variants, and aims to sequence 7,000 weekly. The far smaller UK sequences 12,000 genomes a week.