Biden to lift COVID-19 test requirement for international flyers



The Biden administration is lifting the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requirement for international air travelers to test negative for COVID-19 before entering the U.S., the White House said Friday.

White House assistant press secretary Kevin Munoz said that the CDC "will evaluate its need based on the science and in context of circulating variants," sharing a CNN story on the administration's upcoming announcement.

\u201cUS will end Covid-19 testing requirement for air travelers entering the country\n\n\u2066@CDCgov\u2069 will evaluate its need based on the science and in context of circulating variants \n\n\u2066@POTUS\u2069 work on effective vaccines and treatments critical to this https://t.co/cpdlNfRHbt\u201d
— Kevin Munoz (@Kevin Munoz) 1654868290

The COVID test requirement will end at midnight on Sunday, CNN reported.

According to officials, the CDC decided that air travelers coming to the U.S. no longer needed to show proof of a negative COVID-19 test after consulting the latest science and data. The CDC will reassess its decision in 90 days and may put the testing requirement back in place if there are concerns over rising coronavirus cases or another COVID-19 variant surge.

"If there is a need to reinstate a pre-departure testing requirement -- including due to a new, concerning variant -- CDC will not hesitate to act," a CDC official told Reuters.

The travel rules did not apply to U.S. land border crossings.

President Joe Biden's administration first announced the testing requirement for air passengers in January 2021 and put it into place following an executive order from the president. The travel industry has recently pushed for Biden to end the rule, warning that it has led to a decrease in travel and tourism that has harmed the economy.

Biden met with several travel industry representatives last month who shared these concerns.

“Despite the countless studies affirming that the hospital-grade air onboard aircraft is some of the cleanest available and the significant increase in vaccination rates, the administration continues to hold air travel to a standard different than land border crossings,” Airlines for America president Nicholas E. Calio said in a statement on May 31 after meeting with Biden.

The CDC's decision in the industry's favor comes just as the busy summer traveling season is about to start. Many countries in Europe had already dropped their COVID-19 travel requirements.

The news was welcomed by U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow, who said the administration ought to be "commended" for lifting the requirement.

“Prior to the pandemic, travel was one of our nation’s largest industry exports. The lifting of this requirement will enable the industry to lead the way toward a broader U.S. economic and jobs recovery," Dow said.

The travel industry had been hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet fully recovered. In mid-may, the travel association said domestic travel came within 7 percentage points of pre-pandemic levels, but international travel was still 14% below normal.

Airlines for America said ending the testing requirement "will help encourage and restore air travel to the United States, benefiting communities across the country that rely heavily on travel and tourism to support their local economies."

Mother escorted from hospital in handcuffs for refusing to leave her recovering daughter's side — in violation of COVID rules



An elderly mother in Jacksonville, Florida, spent a night in jail this week for violating a local hospital's COVID-19 rules by refusing to leave the bedside of her daughter, who had just undergone brain surgery after suffering a stroke.

Lynn Savage, 70, was escorted from the hospital in handcuffs and booked in the county jail for trespassing Tuesday night, WJAX-TV reported. But she has no regrets over her actions.

"I stand by my actions 100%. I am not sorry that I made them take me out of there in handcuffs," the dedicated mother told the outlet.

She had been by her daughter Amber's side since 6:30 a.m. that day following the surgery. The news outlet noted that Savage's daughter is currently "non-verbal and partially paralyzed on the right side" after suffering a stroke and that Savage was present at the hospital for support and to serve as an interpreter.

But when 7 p.m. rolled around, a nurse notified Savage that visiting hours had ended and she would have to leave per COVID-19 health guidelines. Savage refused.

"I could not in good conscience and good heart leave her bedside not knowing how she was going to make it through the night voluntarily," she said.

Florida mom arrested after refusing to leave daughter's side at hospital | Action News Jax www.youtube.com

She noted that a doctor had asked her to come into the intensive care unit room to calm her daughter down post-surgery.

"As soon as I approached the bedside, she was fine," Savage recalled. "With all these people talking and all these things going on and she doesn't understand it and not being able to talk, she just was frantic."

As a former deputy sheriff in Ohio, Savage knew what her refusal would ultimately lead to, but she stayed anyway. She later told law enforcement that she preferred arrest to voluntarily abandoning her daughter, according to a police report.

The report added that security officers "spent a couple of hours" pleading with the mother to leave.

Savage confirmed to Action News Jax that she spent 24 hours in Duval County Jail and now has an Oct. 20 date in court.

"[It was] not an experience that I would ever want to do again for the rest of my life," she recounted. "It was horrible. It was filthy, it was more like an insane asylum with the women screaming and hollering and banging on bars and banging on walls. It was just terrifying, but I would rather be there than know that I had walked away from my daughter."

In a statement UF Health Jacksonville said, "Like health care organizations throughout the country, we have put policies in place to protect everyone from the COVID-19 virus, including patients, visitors, and staff. Information about visitation limitations [is] placed in areas visible to those entering our facilities."

Celebrities at the 2021 Met Gala ripped for not wearing masks during swanky fete while the 'help' was forced to cover up: 'COVID rules are for serfs, not celebrities'



Social media expressed collective outrage over Monday's 2021 Met Gala after A-list celebrities were pictured en masse without masks while other, lesser-known entertainers and employees were forced to cover up their faces for the super-elite event.

2020's Met Gala was canceled due to the ongoing pandemic.

What are the details?

Celebrities and politicians — including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) — took to the crowded NYC event's red carpet without masks on Monday night.

Conservative media maven Megyn Kelly tweeted about the event — and Ocasio-Cortez's appearance — and wrote, "A pathetic self-aggrandizing hypocrite. Meanwhile our kids are muzzled & six feet apart all day long while trying to learn but she & these other 'Rules for Thee but Not for Me' pols can parade around maskless & in top of each other at the Met Gala bc, SCIENCE."

A pathetic self-aggrandizing hypocrite. Meanwhile our kids are muzzled & six feet apart all day long while trying… https://t.co/t6fbEjbPnj

— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) 1631623522.0

Professor and Dr. Howard Forman added, "Notion that you don't need to be masked at the #MetGala because everyone is vaccinated flies in the face of every public health proclamation of past 2 months. This 'let them eat cake' cartoon would be funny if not compounded by the 'tax the rich' subtitle."

Notion that you don’t need to be masked at the #MetGala because everyone is vaccinated flies in the face of every p… https://t.co/AdsujuUxog

— (((Howard Forman))) (@thehowie) 1631581525.0

The Daily Wire's Megan Basham added, "How can you tell the elite from the peasants? The peasants have to wear masks." Her remark was in reference to Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who was pictured indoors without a mask while standing in front of a long row of gala staffers — all of whom were masked.

How can you tell the elite from the peasants?The peasants have to wear masks. https://t.co/ocHOqjaehN

— Megan Basham (@megbasham) 1631585003.0

The outlet reported that celebrities were required to wear masks indoors, but not on the outdoor red carpet. The Met Gala's policy also reportedly stated that all attendees be fully vaccinated and provide proof of a negative PCR test the day before the event. Attendees were also reportedly required to wear masks while indoors except when eating or drinking.

New York City itself also requires proof of vaccination to access all public indoor spaces, including museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art — home of the Met Gala.

What else is being said about this?

In a lengthy essay for the Spectator, journalist Karol Markowicz wrote, "COVID rules are for serfs, not celebrities."

She began, "Amid the ridiculous outfits at the Met Gala last night, between the faux-socialist in her absurd 'Tax the Rich' dress and whatever that was that Kim Kardashian was attempting, stood a row of servants, masked. The celebrities, of course, were not. If there's one thing we have collectively learned during the 18 months of this pandemic is that the rules don't apply to the rich and famous."

"Vice President Kamala Harris's 'model' stepdaughter Ella Emhoff posed for pictures at the Met Gala with a mask on, then took it off," she continued. "Her sequin mask, of course, offered little protection from COVID anyway but it continues to be galling that the rest of us have to engage in COVID safety theater while the rich and famous don't even need to go through the motions."

Noting that those in attendance at Monday night's event largely are "denizens of the American left," excuses were made for their behavior, which was swept under the rug.

National Review's Charles W. Cooke added that per New York City local mandates, all people ages 12 and older are required to show proof that they have received "at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine" if they work in — or want to enter — public places such as movie theaters, music and concert venues, museums, aquariums, zoos, sports arenas, and more.

"This new requirement — called the Key to NYC — also means staff at these locations must be vaccinated," Cooke wrote. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a museum. Why, then, did the staff have to wear masks while the celebrities did not? It can't be because, unlike the celebrities, the staff were unvaccinated. And it can't be because, even though everyone was vaccinated, there's still a risk of transmission and infection, because that risk would apply equally to the celebrities as it would to the staff."

He added, "Is the science different for famous people, perhaps?"

Others noted that the mayor's executive order did, by its terms, exempt celebrities who are performing:

Not that I doubted @karol but geez https://t.co/hHbqZS8l3V https://t.co/u6djfFRVfN

— Stu Burguiere (@StuDoesAmerica) 1631634509.0