Written by Bobbie Wylie
On Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said “Nothing is off the table” when asked if a vaccine requirement would be implemented for passengers traveling on domestic flights in light of the Omicron variant.
President Biden is expected to announce on Thursday new COVID-19 protocols for travel – including an extension of the federal mask mandate on all domestic flights and public transit, and a requirement for all international passengers flying into the United States, regardless of vaccination status, to take a COVID-19 test 24 hours prior to departure.
Press secretary Jen Psaki noted that there are “some strong protections in place already, including the requirement of mask wearing.” However, Psaki said “nothing’s off the table,” and officials are examining “a range of factors as we make decisions about what steps we can put in place.”
Psaki’s statements echo those of White House coronavirus task force coordinator, Jeffrey Zients, who said in an MSNBC interview this week that “we do have those tight requirements on the international travel, we have the workplace requirements, we’ll continue to look at all options and everything’s on the table.”
Last week, President Biden put in place a travel ban restricting travel from South Africa and several other countries over concerns of the Omicron variant. Press secretary Psaki says the Biden administration is deciding if “additional restrictions need to be put in place.” These additional restrictions could mean vaccine mandates for domestic travelers, or other stringent COVID-19 restrictions.
So far, there have been two known cases of the Omicron variant in the US. One was a fully-vaccinated California resident and the second a Minnesota resident. In this seemingly endless pandemic, more variants mean slim chances of COVID-19 restrictions ending anytime soon.
Photo Cred: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
