Update 21 January 2021: 14 Day Quarantine Required On Arrival To USA & Other Public Health News for Travelers to CA

[theluckyrabbit]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-31/lax-begins-rapid-covid-19-testing-for-travelers

 

[theluckyrabbit]

https://www.latimes.com/california/...andatory-quarantine-order-for-travelers-works

https://twitter.com/x/status/1345470483731460103

 

[Winnowill]

Here's an interesting tidbit: We drove down to Rocky Point in October, through the border crossing at Lukeville, AZ. We had no issues in either direction (and we had called both the border crossing and our resort, both of which said the border was open). Nobody asked if our travel was essential (we were going on vacation, so obviously not). The article implies that the border has been closed since March, with monthly extensions. Our experience indicates that, if true, the border is unaware of this.

Just following up - my BFF spent the New Year in Rocky Point. No problems getting over the border in either direction, still - they just returned today.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/COVID-19/Travel-Advisory.aspx
Updated Travel Advisory
CDPH has issued an updated travel advisory. Except in connection with essential travel, Californians should avoid non-essential travel to any part of California more than 120 miles from one's place of residence, or to other states or countries. Avoiding travel reduces the risk of virus transmission, including by reducing the risk that new sources of infection and, potentially, new virus strains will be introduced to California. Postponing travel and staying home is the best way to protect yourself and others from COVID-19. Non-essential travelers from other states or countries are strongly discouraged from entering California and should adhere to the state's self-quarantine procedures for 10 days.

From the L.A. Times:
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-07/californians-shouldnt-travel-more-than-120-miles-from-home-state-says

 

[theluckyrabbit]

CDC: Travelers boarding international flights to the US will need proof of negative COVID test starting 1/26/21 --
https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-require-negative-covid-19-185004472.html

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/us-require-arriving-passengers-covid-223630404.html

 

[theluckyrabbit]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1349045993883447297

 

[BadPinkTink]

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1352346818034737161/vid/1280x720/7x5Ib7yC8y9IGxh5.mp4?tag=13
President Biden talking about the Executive Orders he has signed relating to travel, including the introduction of a 14 day quarantine for incoming visitors to USA

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...masks-quarantine-for-travelers-in-covid-fight
The Biden administration is vowing tough enforcement of new safety measures it is imposing on travelers to curb the spread of the coronavirus even as some say elements of the plan will be difficult to police.

In an executive order he will issue Thursday, his second day in office, President Joe Biden will require masks be worn in airports, planes, intercity buses and other forms of transportation. The president is also ordering people who arrive in the U.S. from other countries to self-quarantine, which had previously been unenforced guidance.

“We are prepared to make sure we use all relevant authorities to enforce the president’s executive order to ensure across every mode of transportation workers, passengers, commuters are protected,” Pete Buttigieg, the nominee to become secretary of transportation, told lawmakers Thursday during a hearing on his confirmation.

Biden will also codify an action by former President Donald Trump on Jan. 12 to require a negative Covid-19 test before flying to the U.S. from other nations, according to a Biden administration fact sheet. The order will be coupled with one requiring masks on federal properties that was signed by Biden on Wednesday.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1352346818034737161/vid/1280x720/7x5Ib7yC8y9IGxh5.mp4?tag=13
President Biden talking about the Executive Orders he has signed relating to travel, including the introduction of a 14 day quarantine for incoming visitors to USA

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...masks-quarantine-for-travelers-in-covid-fight
The Biden administration is vowing tough enforcement of new safety measures it is imposing on travelers to curb the spread of the coronavirus even as some say elements of the plan will be difficult to police.

In an executive order he will issue Thursday, his second day in office, President Joe Biden will require masks be worn in airports, planes, intercity buses and other forms of transportation. The president is also ordering people who arrive in the U.S. from other countries to self-quarantine, which had previously been unenforced guidance.

“We are prepared to make sure we use all relevant authorities to enforce the president’s executive order to ensure across every mode of transportation workers, passengers, commuters are protected,” Pete Buttigieg, the nominee to become secretary of transportation, told lawmakers Thursday during a hearing on his confirmation.

Biden will also codify an action by former President Donald Trump on Jan. 12 to require a negative Covid-19 test before flying to the U.S. from other nations, according to a Biden administration fact sheet. The order will be coupled with one requiring masks on federal properties that was signed by Biden on Wednesday.

And the DIS article: https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-storie...tional-travelers-masks-on-planes-in-airports/

 

[theluckyrabbit]

President Biden to Reinstate Travel Restrictions for Non-US Citizens Entering the US Starting Monday, 1/25/21:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-sign-sweeping-coronavirus-related-214452851.html
And the DIS article: https://www.wdwinfo.com/news-stories/covid-19-travel-restrictions-reinstated-by-president-biden/

 

[theluckyrabbit]

CA to Lift SAH Orders on Monday, 1/25/21: https://www.yahoo.com/news/california-lift-stay-home-orders-075356191.html
Back to the color tiers, i.e. should be purple for L.A. County, OC, and SD County

 

[BadPinkTink]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-01-24/newsom-cancels-coronavirus-stay-at-home-order
California officials lifted regional coronavirus stay-at-home orders across the state on Monday, a change that could allow restaurants and businesses in many counties to reopen outdoor dining and other services.

All counties will return to the colored tier system that assigns local risk levels based on case numbers and rates of positive test results for coronavirus infections.

Most counties will be classified under the “widespread” risk tier, which permits hair salons to offer limited services indoors but restricts many other nonessential indoor business operations.

The change, which takes effect immediately, could lessen restrictions in in the Southern California, Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley regions, which were still under stay-at-home orders, unless local officials adopt stronger restrictions. Throughout the pandemic, local leaders have been allowed to go beyond the state’s rules, approve their own stay-at-home orders or shut down additional activities they deem too risky for their areas.

“California is slowly starting to emerge from the most dangerous surge of this pandemic yet, which is the light at the end of the tunnel we’ve been hoping for,” said California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly. “Seven weeks ago, our hospitals and frontline medical workers were stretched to their limits, but Californians heard the urgent message to stay home when possible and our surge after the December holidays did not overwhelm the healthcare system to the degree we had feared.”

It’s far from clear whether the decision will lead to easing stay-at-home rules in Los Angeles County, which has become a national hotbed of the coronavirus, with hospitals overwhelmed by patients. In less than one month, more than 5,000 people have died of COVID-19 in the county alone.

Still, the outdoor dining ban has been highly controversial, with some elected officials and the restaurant industry fighting in and out of court to overturn it. Officials in some other Southern California counties have been even more critical of the state-imposed rules, and had urged Newsom to give them more local control.

The governor announced the regional stay-at-home orders on Dec. 3 in an effort to reduce the strain on hospitals as case numbers surged. Although state data show hospital systems in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley remain strained, the Newsom administration said models project ICU capacity in those regions and the Bay Area will exceed 15% — a threshold for lifting the regional shutdowns — over the next four weeks.

Earlier this month, Newsom lifted stay-at-home orders for the Greater Sacramento region.

State officials have not released a full accounting of how four-week ICU calculations were being made. And although services were allowed to reopen in the Sacramento region on Dec. 13, daily reports of available intensive care beds never approached the 15% threshold deemed necessary to cancel the restrictions. ICU capacity in the Northern California region, which is not under the stay-at-home order, has continued to remain above the state’s shutdown benchmarks.

The Bay Area had remained under the stay-at-home order due to a four-week projection of a decrease in hospital bed availability. Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley region reported little to no ICU capacity.

After a winter surge, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations are beginning to decline across the state.

But California is continuing to see a record-breaking number of deaths from COVID-19, a lagging indicator of the surge.

Despite positive developments, officials are expressing growing concerns about new and potentially more contagious variants of the coronavirus that have been detected in California and beyond.

One of the new variants is believed to be 50% more transmissible than the conventional variety of the coronavirus. If that variant became widespread, it would lead to more infections, hospitalizations and deaths.

 

[BadPinkTink]

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing...e-a-risk-of-transmitting-coronavirus-disease/
Official White House page about the updated travel ban for European and other countries

In my Executive Order of January 21, 2021, entitled “Promoting COVID-19 Safety in Domestic and International Travel,” I directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services, including through the Director of CDC, and in coordination with the Secretary of Transportation (including through the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration) and the Secretary of Homeland Security (including through the Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration), to further examine certain current public health precautions for international travel and take additional appropriate regulatory action, to the extent feasible and consistent with CDC guidelines and applicable law.

While that review continues, and given the determination of CDC, working in close coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, described above, I have determined that it is in the interests of the United States to take action to restrict and suspend the entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of noncitizens of the United States (“noncitizens”) who were physically present within the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), the Republic of Ireland, the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the Republic of South Africa during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that the unrestricted entry into the United States of persons described in section 1 of this proclamation would, except as provided for in section 2 of this proclamation, be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I therefore hereby proclaim the following:

Section 1. Suspension and Limitation on Entry. (a) The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of noncitizens who were physically present within the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom (excluding overseas territories outside of Europe), the Republic of Ireland, and the Federative Republic of Brazil during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, is hereby suspended and limited subject to section 2 of this proclamation.
(b) The entry into the United States, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, of noncitizens who were physically present within the Republic of South Africa during the 14-day period preceding their entry or attempted entry into the United States, is hereby suspended and limited subject to section 2 of this proclamation.

 

[BadPinkTink]

The American CDC has published a new order about masks. The order requires people to wear a face mask while using any form of public transportation, including buses, trains, taxis, airplanes, boats, subways or ride-share vehicles while traveling into, within and out of the US. Masks must be worn while waiting, boarding, traveling and disembarking. The coverings need to be at least two or more layers of breathable fabric secured to the head with ties, ear loops or elastic bands, scarves and bandanas do not count.

https://edition.cnn.com/2021/01/30/health/us-coronavirus-saturday/index.html