WASHINGTON, DC — News that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its COVID-19 guidance to recommend that even fully vaccinated people wear masks in indoor public settings in areas with high transmission was met with cautious approval by the U.S. Travel Association. “From the beginning, we have said our industry will follow the guidance of public health authorities. The last thing we want is a setback to the nascent recovery in travel, especially as business travel slowly begins to recover,” said USTA CEO Roger Dow. “Following CDC guidelines allows Americans to safely continue their return to their professional lives, including in-person meetings and business travel.”
However, he added, “the updated CDC guidance should not impede the progress our country has made in recent months as we have returned to traveling and meeting in person.” He emphasized that large-scale in-person business events (SMEs) can and have been held safely during the pandemic. He cited a set of evidence-based recommendations developed in June by leading health scientists at Ohio State University that would ensure a safe return to large-scale in-person SME events.
“The authors emphasize that SMBs differ from other large gatherings in that they offer greater mitigation capacity through robust safety measures, including vaccination and masking, in a controlled environment. In fact, according to scientific modeling from the Exhibitions and Conferences Alliance and Epistemix, in-person SMBs pose a near-zero (0.001%) risk of COVID-19 transmission to attendees, even for large events,” he said. The quickest and most critical path to normalcy remains vaccination, he added, saying, “We strongly encourage all Americans to protect themselves and their loved ones by getting vaccinated.”
Guidance also on returning to local level
Even before the CDC issued its latest recommendations, local mask mandates had already made a comeback, as the more contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 became the dominant strain of the virus in the United States and new infection rates more than doubled week over week recently. Some areas in Nevada, California and Massachusetts recently began advising residents to wear masks whenever they were indoors — though in the case of Clark County, Nevada, which includes Las Vegas, masks were only required for employees, not visitors or meeting attendees.
However, Nevada issued an emergency directive on July 28 requiring everyone in the state to wear a mask indoors, whether vaccinated or not, due to the rising number of cases in its unvaccinated population. While trade show organizers are not required to submit their own health and safety plans under the new directive, venues that can accommodate 250 people or more are required to submit a COVID-19 survey to the county.
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“We want to assure you, your exhibitors and attendees that Las Vegas remains vigilant as a destination,” said Brian Yost, chief operating officer of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “The State of Nevada and Southern Nevada Department of Health experts are closely monitoring the data and responding quickly to implement the most appropriate safety measures while following CDC guidelines. LVCC and our casino-resort and attraction partners continue to adhere to the highest standards of sanitation to provide a safe and healthy environment for all, with LVCC continuing to follow the guidelines outlined as part of its GBAC Star accreditation.”
On July 28, the state of California added recommendations for universal indoor masking regardless of an individual’s vaccination status. Previously, a mask mandate was in place only for unvaccinated individuals. The California Department of Public Health said it made the change after reviewing new CDC guidance, and in response to the increasing spread of the Delta variant and the higher-than-desirable percentage of its population that has not yet been vaccinated. “This adds an additional precautionary measure for everyone to reduce the transmission of COVID-19, particularly in communities currently experiencing the highest rates of transmission. Local health jurisdictions may be more restrictive than this guidance,” the CDPH said in its updated guidance.
In addition to Nevada and California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia have implemented some version of a mask advisory or mandate, as has Washington, D.C., though many are only requiring unvaccinated people to wear masks in indoor public settings as of July 29. US and World News maintains a list of state-by-state masking rules here ; the CDC also provides an interactive county-by-county map that can be accessed to see regularly updated COVID infection rates across the United States
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In Massachusetts, some popular Cape Cod tourist destinations recently reinstated mask mandates for all indoor activities due to local spikes in COVID cases. However, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is continuing to consider the CDC’s new guidance and is not recommending statewide changes just yet, though he said his administration may have more to say on the topic soon, according to The Boston Globe.
While other states, such as Massachusetts, have yet to impose statewide changes to mask rules or guidelines, some cities and regions have followed the lead of Clark County, Nevada, Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Los Angeles, California, in getting ahead of statewide mandates with their own local rules. These include New Orleans, which implemented a mask mandate for county employees regardless of vaccination status, and Savannah, Georgia, which now requires all residents to wear masks indoors. Local health officials have also pushed back against statewide mask bans. For example, in Florida, where the governor has banned mask mandates, Palm Beach recently implemented an indoor mask mandate for all residents, vaccinated or not, according to ABC News.
The setbacks of reopening borders
While the United States is reinstating mask mandates nationwide and, in some cases, at the state or city/local level, the United Kingdom recently decided to fully reopen its economy with no occupancy limits or mask mandates, even though it is also seeing a continued rise in cases and its health and safety experts have advised against a full reopening.
Related. Canada to reopen borders to U.S. travelers on August 9
While Canada recently announced it would reopen its borders to fully vaccinated U.S. travelers on August 9, the United States has decided not to reciprocate, at least not yet. The U.S. government recently announced it would extend border restrictions on non-essential travel by U.S. citizens to Mexico and Canada through August 21, citing the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in the United States.
These neighboring countries join the United Kingdom and the 26-nation Schengen Area of Europe, which, while now allowing U.S. citizens who are fully vaccinated or can provide a negative COVID-19 test to enter their countries without having to quarantine, are, like Canada and Mexico, still subject to an entry ban at the U.S. border. “We are maintaining existing travel restrictions at this time,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a recent press briefing, adding that the reason for the decision is due to the rapid spread of the Delta variant “here and abroad.” The CDC also recently added the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal to its list of destinations that U.S. citizens should avoid due to rising COVID-19 infection rates.
That could all change. In early July, U.S. President Biden said the country was considering a timeline for lifting travel restrictions after hearing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s thoughts on the matter. U.S. Travel, along with other organizations including airlines, the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the Global Business Travel Association, have been pushing since this spring for a “risk- and data-based roadmap for reopening the United States to international travelers.”
As patience wears thin both in countries whose citizens are seeking entry to the United States and those eager to welcome international travelers, a White House official told Reuters last week: “We want to make sure that we are acting deliberately and that we are able to sustainably reopen international travel when it is safe to do so.”
Contact Roger Dow at (202) 408-8422 or rdow@ustravel.org; Brian Yost at (702) 892-0711 or byost@lvcva.com