A senior U.S. public health official today revealed to Reuters that President Joe Biden will ban nearly all non-U.S. citizens who have recently visited South Africa from entering the United States, beginning January 30.
The source also said that, on January 25, Biden will reimpose entry bans on most non-U.S. citizens coming from the U.K., Ireland, a bloc of 26 European countries and Brazil. Most of these restrictions were initially imposed in mid-March 2020 by then-president Donald Trump, although arrivals from Brazil weren't barred until May 2020. Just before leaving office, Trump ordered that those bans be lifted, but President Biden's proclamation will reverse that decision.
The restrictions prohibit most non-U.S. citizens who have been in any of the specified countries within the past 14 days from entering the U.S. There are provisions to allow permanent U.S. residents and their family members, and certain other non-U.S. citizens, to return to the United States under the order.
In an interview today, the CDC's principal deputy director, Dr. Anne Schuchat, explained: "We are adding South Africa to the restricted list because of the concerning variant present that has already spread beyond South Africa." She said the agency was, "putting in place this suite of measures to protect Americans and also to reduce the risk of these variants spreading and worsening the current pandemic."
Some health officials are reportedly worried that current COVID-19 vaccines may not be effective against the South African strain, known as 501Y.V2 variant, which is 50-percent more infectious than previous ones and has already been detected in at least 20 countries. While the South African variant has not thus far been found in the United States., another highly-infectious variant coming from the U.K., known as B.1.1.7., has been detected in at least 20 U.S. states.
Separately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) director, Rochelle Walensky, is set to sign an order on January 25 that will require everyone ages two and over to wear masks on all airplanes, ferries, trains, buses, subways, taxis and ride-share vehicles. Officials could only say that the rules would take effect in the coming days, with allowances for masks to be removed briefly while eating or drinking.
The CDC's new regulations requiring that all international travelers ages two and older provide a negative COVID-19 test taken within 72 hours of travel, or proof that they've already had the disease and covered, will also take effect on January 26. CDC officials noted that 120 other nations already have mandatory COVID-19 testing requirements for entry and said that it would not be granting airlines' requested waivers to exempt travelers coming from countries with limited testing capacity.
"With the pandemic worsening and these more contagious variants emerging it's not the time to lift restrictions on international travel," Schuchat remarked.
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