The White House is expected to announce Friday that the requirement for travelers to take a COVID-19 test before entering the United States will be dropped by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to CNN.
This announcement will go into effect at midnight on June 12.
This decision is “based on science and data” and will be reassessed in 90 days, a senior administration official told CNN.
According to Axios, the health agency has required travelers to test negative before their flights to the U.S. since January. Many countries abroad have already dropped their testing requirements.
Travel industries and businesses have criticized these mandates — a group of over 260 organizations even sent a letter to Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, urging the administration to throw out the predeparture testing rule for international travelers.
In mid-April, a Florida federal judge overturned the CDC’s mask mandate for public transportation and airplanes, saying the mandate was “unlawful” and “its implementation violated administrative law,” as the Deseret News previously reported.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has filed an appeal on the mask mandate, with a decision still pending.
As for summer travel predictions, a recent survey showed that an estimated 73% of Americans have summer plans this year, an increase from 53% last year.