All signs point to a busy holiday travel season, as COVID-19 restrictions have lifted and more people are vaccinated and feel comfortable squeezing into close quarters on planes, trains, and automobiles. But COVID-19, not to mention other respiratory diseases like flu and RSV, are still a threat, and for a number of reasons, data about their spread is currently pretty limited.
Since 2021, the CDC has asked passengers arriving in the U.S. on international flights to voluntarily provide nasal samples to screen for COVID-19, and that program will now include screening for flu and RSV as well. The travelers’ program is proving to be a robust source of information about important infectious diseases, says its director, Dr. Cindy Friedman. We discussed the its track record, and her plans for increasing its usefulness.
- For now, it will screen for COVID-19, flu and RSV at four major airports—JFK in New York, San Francisco International, Logan in Boston and Dulles in Washington, D.C.
- Friedman isn’t just relying on the kindness of passengers to provide samples; the program also collects wastewater from planes to provide more data on viruses that could be entering the country.
- Eventually, Friedman says the program will look for about 30 pathogens that can cause illness in people, including those that can contribute to croup and pneumonia.
