President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Saturday said the government is considering domestic travel restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic and added United Kingdom and Irelandto the Europe travel restrictions that went into effect late Friday.
They did not offer specifics ondomestic flight restrictions but Trump said earlier this week that they would be considered if “an area gets a little bit out of control” in terms of coronavirus cases.
Pence said at a White House news conference Saturday that a “broad range of measures” are under consideration.
“But no decisions have been made yet,” he said.
Asked if people should be traveling, Trump recommended against it.
“If you don’t have to travel I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “We want this thing to end. We don’t want a lot of people getting infected.”
New United Kingdom and Ireland restrictions
The United Kingdom and Ireland were excluded from the Europe travel ban announced earlier this week but have been added due to a spike in cases there.
The broadened ban means residents of the UK and Ireland will not be allowed to travel to the United States for 30 days beginning late Monday.
U.S. residents won’t be banned from flying to the United States but they will face airport screenings upon their return and will be asked to self quarantine for 14 days.
Officials said U.S. citizens in the UK or Ireland do not need to rush home ahead of the deadline because the ban does not apply to them.
“They will be allowed into the US,” Chad Wolf, acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security said.
In response to the broadened ban and the resulting falloff in travel demand, airlines are likely to sharply cut flights between the US and London and Ireland. Delta and American Airlines, for example, suspended all flights between the United States and the 26 European countries covered by the initial ban.
Europe travel restrictions:Here’s what you need to know
Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2020/03/14/coronavirus-travel-president-trump-adds-united-kingdom-ireland-flight-restrictions/5050097002/
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