Barely three weeks after the thunderous announcement of a reopening of borders to vaccinated travelers, the United States could finally take a few steps back in the face of the spread of the Omicron variant.

US President Joe Biden is expected to officially announce measures on Thursday to tighten entry conditions into the United States.

The Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), the country's main federal public health agency, said it is working to reduce the timeframe for performing a test to a single day before flying, for all passengers, regardless of their vaccination status.

At the moment, the deadline is three days for people who have been vaccinated.

It is already one day for unvaccinated Americans, or unvaccinated foreign minors (unvaccinated foreign adults cannot enter the United States at all).

Voluntary quarantines for all

The health agency is also considering measures "concerning tests after arrival and voluntary quarantine," CDC director Rochelle Walensky said on Tuesday.

According to the Washington Post, the government plans to make a test mandatory within three to five days of arriving in the territory, which is currently only recommended.

Above all, from the same source, the administration is also working on the establishment of a quarantine of seven days for all travelers on their return, including Americans.

The American daily notes that fines could be imposed on violators of this measure, which promises to be controversial if it sees the light of day.

An evolving border closure policy

US President Joe Biden also said Tuesday that the United States would assess its policy of closing borders "week after week" in the face of the new variant. Washington has already banned the entry into the United States of people coming from eight countries of southern Africa, after the report of Omicron.

The latter, already present in about 20 countries, has not yet been detected in the United States, where the Delta variant remains ultra-dominant.

But Omicron worries experts because it has many mutations that are likely to make it more contagious, and especially potentially more resistant to the immunity conferred by vaccines.

Studies are underway to determine if this is indeed the case, and to what extent, but the first results should only be available in the coming weeks.

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  • Covid 19

  • Health

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  • Omicron variant

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