Air travelers may face new COVID-19 restrictions on domestic flights, just in time for the holiday travel season.
“Movement of people leads to an increase in COVID we’ve seen it so many times in the last year where there is a holiday,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong of UCSF.
Hoping to end the trend, Senator Dianne Feinstein tweeted, “We can’t allow upcoming holiday air travel to contribute to another surge in covid cases. Today I introduced legislation requiring passengers on domestic flights to be vaccinated, test negative or be fully recovered from a previous COVID illness.”
Chin-Hong said the policy would help reduce the spread of coronavirus.
“One hundred percent it's time,” he said. “Other people have been doing it, we've been doing it for international travel.”
At the San Francisco International Airport, passengers said they’re on board.
Local
“Absolutely, 1,000%,” said one traveler. “You're so close, it's a lot of close people.”
Senator Feinstein is hoping to have new rules in place before Thanksgiving. But the bill still has to work its way through the legislative process and the FAA would have to establish procedures.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“It would make me feel a lot safer knowing people have been vaccinated,” said a passenger.
