Travel: Frequently Asked Questions and Answers

Yes, people who have recovered from COVID-19 can safely travel if they tested positive for COVID-19 in the past 90 days and have met criteria to end isolation.

People can continue to test positive for up to 90 days after a COVID-19 diagnosis without being infectious to others. For this reason, travelers who have recovered from COVID-19 in the past 90 days do not need to get tested before or after travel. If they develop COVID-19 symptoms after travel, they should isolate and consult with a healthcare provider for testing recommendations.

Those traveling by air to the United States from a foreign country can show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 instead of a negative test result before boarding their flight.

These travelers should follow other travel recommendations and requirements for domestic and international travel.

Maintaining physical distance to prevent COVID-19 is often difficult on public transportation. People may not be able to keep a distance of 6 feet from others on airplanes, trains, or buses.

Protect yourself from COVID-19 by getting fully vaccinated and by wearing a mask on public transportation. Wearing a mask over your nose and mouth is required on in indoor areas of planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and while indoors at U.S. transportation hubs (such as airports and stations), even for those people who have been fully vaccinated.

All travelers should take steps to protect themselves and others.

CDC reviews data reported to the World Health Organization daily to determine a destination’s COVID-19 Travel Health Notice level and makes appropriate level changes on a routine basis. There are a few factors that CDC considers when determining the level of a destination. To find out more about the COVID-19 Travel Health Notice levels, visit How CDC Determines the Level for COVID-19 Travel Health Notices.

Air passengers are required to provide the following contact information, to the extent that it exists, within 72 hours before their flight’s departure: full name (as it appears on their passport), address while in the United States, primary contact phone number, secondary or emergency contact phone number, and email address.

Passengers must also:

• Acknowledge that the obligation to provide complete and accurate information is a U.S. government requirement and that failure to provide complete and accurate information may result in criminal penalties.
• Confirm the information they provided is complete and accurate.

Under current federal regulations, pilots must report all illnesses and deaths to CDC before arriving to a U.S. destination. According to CDC protocols, if a sick traveler has a contagious disease that is a risk to others on board the airplane, CDC works with local and state health departments and international public health agencies to contact exposed passengers and crew.

Be sure to give the airline your current contact information when booking your ticket so you can be notified if you are exposed to a sick traveler on a flight.

For more information, see the CDC webpage Protecting Travelers’ Health from Airport to Community: Investigating Contagious Diseases on Flights.

Yes. The chance of getting COVID-19 on cruise ships is high because the virus spreads easily between people in close quarters aboard ships. For this reason, CDC recommends the following groups of people avoid traveling on cruise ships, including river cruises, worldwide:

• People who are not fully vaccinated.
• People with an increased risk of severe illness, regardless of vaccination status, including
  • Older adults and adults of any age with serious chronic medical conditions such as heart disease, chronic lung disease, and diabetes.
  • Children with underlying medical conditions.