EXCERPT:
SAENZ: "Well, federal health officials today announced that that those individuals traveling from China will now have to show a negative test before their departure. This is set to take place starting at 12:01 A.M. on January 5th. Now, these tests must be taken no more than two days before departure from China. It also would require that they would be PCR tests or antigen self-tests that are administrated through either a telehealth service and that are approved by the FDA here in the United States. Additionally, those people who had tested positive for Covid more than ten days before their departure, they would be able to show proof of recovery in lieu of that negative test. Now, this is not just going to be for those who are coming directly from China. It will apply to those who might be traveling through third countries, so including airports in Seoul, Vancouver, and Toronto. And while so much of this is based on concerns over the rise of Covid-19 cases in China after the elimination of its zero-Covid policy, federal health officials say that a big portion of this has to do with what they consider a lack of transparent data coming from China. Officials saying that that includes data relating to cases, hospitalizations and deaths, but most importantly, a lack of information when it comes to genomic sequencing. That helps determine new variants that could potentially be emerging. So, officials are hoping here that this will help reduce not just the spread of the Coronavirus, but also eliminate any possible new variants from coming to the country as they are seeking more information. There will also be an expansion of this traveler-based genomic sequencing program that’s expanding to seven airports. They are hoping that will help identify any possible new variants at this moment, as well. Now, another important note: this goes into effect on January 5th. Officials saying they are trying to give the airlines more time to implement those operations to have this plan in place."