Ronald Reagan Washington Airport.Patrick Semansky / AP
For those vaccinated against COVID-19 in the US - more than one in five adults - traveling within the country or abroad will be a low-risk activity for their health as long as they follow the usual precautions: wear a mask in public, save the safe distance, wash your hands frequently and avoid crowds.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, in its English acronym) have published their latest health recommendations this Friday, while its person in charge, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, has warned of an 8% increase in infections in the country , a particularly notable rebound in the Northeast.
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This new CDC guideline comes at a time when travel, especially indoors, has picked up strongly on the boost of spring break and Easter holidays.
But precisely because of the increase in cases, the CDC has qualified that it does not encourage Americans to travel freely;
on the contrary, they recommend not doing it unless it is essential.
People who have received both doses of the Pzifer and Moderna vaccines, or the only dose of Johnson & Johnson - the three administered in the country - will be able to travel without posing a risk to their health and will not have to save quarantine when returning to their places of origin, as long as there are no specific provisions of the States or counties that require it.
Those immunized should not undergo a coronavirus test before traveling to another country, unless requested at the destination.
However, they must take the test before returning to the United States from abroad, and repeat it within three to five days of their return.
The measure obeys the idea that even fully vaccinated people can become infected with covid-19.
According to the CDC, a person is considered to be immunized two weeks after receiving the only dose of Johnson & Johnson, or two weeks after the second dose of the other vaccines.
These new recommendations, which do not alter the guidelines for those who have not yet been vaccinated or decline to do so, are in addition to those issued by the federal health authorities at the beginning of March, regarding social gatherings and with non-partners, which eliminated the obligation to the mask in some cases.