A new bill introduced in the Senate by Diane Feinstein of California would bring Covid rules for domestic travel up to a standard similar to the rules for flying into the U.S., with proof required of vaccination, recovery or new negative test.
Feinstein said Wednesday that the proposed U.S. Air Travel Public Safety Act is needed because “We know that air travel during the 2020 holiday season contributed to last winter’s devastating COVID-19 surge. We simply cannot allow that to happen again.” The plan has support from the American Public Health Association and other health-related groups.
Similar rules are in effect for domestic travel in many European and Asian countries, as well as for international travel to those countries. However, the U.S. airline companies are opposed to the requirement; they have argued that it would cause bottlenecks and delays at airports. That’s more of an issue in the U.S. than in most countries, because of the lack of a common scannable digital credential.
