CDC Contact Tracing For International Flights: Still Necessary?
I’m not meaning to be controversial here, but I’m genuinely curious if there’s something I’m missing…
In 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) introduced a requirement for international travelers on flights to the United States to provide contact tracing information prior to travel.
Specifically, within 72 hours of departure, and prior to being able to check-in, passengers have to provide their contact information for where they’ll be in the United States upon arrival, including an address, phone number, etc.
Airlines need to keep this information on file for 30 days, and transmit the information to the CDC upon request. As it’s described, “the purpose of collecting this information is to identify and locate passengers who may have been exposed to a person with a communicable disease for public health follow-up.”
At the start of the pandemic, I could see the value in this, in theory. I mean, the US was never exactly great about contact tracing (to put it mildly), but coronavirus was treated as a public health emergency, so it wasn’t unreasonable to think that information could be helpful.
