Harvard University researchers studying ways to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission during air travel endorsed the idea of fast testing of passengers in a report released Thursday.
“Viral testing is an important public health screening mechanism that can quickly and effectively establish those with infections and cease them from undergoing activities that could expose others, including potential travel,” Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, mentioned in a summary of the 262-page report.
Requiring testing for all travelers wouldn’t guarantee a plane full of virus-free passengers but may serve a “critical need” in identifying asymptomatic passengers and protecting them off planes, lowering the risk of transmission.
The report says COVID testing is more effective than other health screening measures, including temperature checks, that are done at some airports. Frontier Airlines also checks passenger temperatures earlier than boarding.
The idea of COVID tests for airline passengers is not new. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended pre-and post-travel COVID tests since December for those ignoring its advice to avoid travel as happened during Thanksgiving.
And as of Jan. 26, the CDC made negative COVID tests mandatory for passengers boarding international flights to America, broadening a Christmas Eve order requiring tests of passengers flying from the United Kingdom to America given new covid variants there.
However pre-flight COVID testing has become a touchy topic since the Biden administration took office and made COVID precautions and policies a top priority.
With COVID-19 case rates within the nation still high and faster spreading new variants raising concerns, a high CDC official mentioned in late January that the agency was considering a requirement that passengers boarding flights within the U.S. show a negative COVID-19 test to board. New Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg talked about the risk in the latest interview, too, as did CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in a briefing this week.
Airlines are vehemently opposed to the thought of domestic testing, citing logistical issues, limited testing resources, and the effect mandatory testing would have on already depressed bookings. Delta CEO Ed Bastian mentioned Tuesday that domestic testing would set the struggling travel industry’s recovery again by at least a yr. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly wrote a letter to Biden on Tuesday, saying a mandate can be “counterproductive, costly, and have serious unintended consequences.” Earlier, Kelly called the idea “wholly impractical.”
The Harvard researchers’ endorsement of viral testing for airline passengers in Thursday’s report, the second phase of a two-part report from Harvard’s Aviation Public Health Initiative to assess the risks of flying during the coronavirus pandemic, is notable because the airline industry and others within the aviation industry paid for the research.
Leonard Marcus, founding co-director of the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative at Harvard, mentioned the business previewed the report and there was a “discussion” about testing.
“However you’ll be able to see we came out in favor of testing in general,” he mentioned.
The Harvard scientists didn’t make any policy recommendations on mandatory testing for travelers, he mentioned, because the technology and testing capacity for widespread, inexpensive testing are not yet available.
“From an aspirational perspective, we think it would be a plus to see testing across the board,” he mentioned, citing other businesses and schools in addition to airlines.
The report adds: “Of course, all recommendations being made regarding implementing necessary testing strategies are dependent upon access to adequate supplies, having acceptable testing protocols that ensure the integrity of sample collection from the traveler, and consideration of costs, logistics, and privacy issues.”
Airlines for America, the airline business lobbying group, noted those qualifiers when asked about the report’s support of COVID testing.
The Harvard researchers mentioned widespread testing of travelers may not be necessary as extra people are vaccinated.
“Till then, continuing to implement efficient precautions whereas evaluating effective testing options for travelers provides an important tool for reducing disease transmission and encouraging confidence within the public health safety of the aviation system.”
The study is a follow-up to an October report focused on the transmission on airplanes, which declared flying safer than grocery shopping.
