Ineffective screening of travelers at airports for Covid-19 symptoms: report



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Airport screening protocols such as temperature control and symptom monitoring among passengers flying from countries with high rates of Covid spread are ineffective for air travelers, cites a new report. The report said the enhanced screening program for air passengers that started in January had a low case detection rate.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in its latest report said that more than 766,000 travelers were screened between January 13 and September 13.

According to data from the CDC, “nearly 300 met the criteria for public health assessment, 35 were tested for coronavirus, and nine tested positive. This means that the program identified approximately one case for every 85,000 travelers examined,” he said said the CDC.

The reasons for the failure of this style of screening were: the coronavirus has a number of nonspecific symptoms common to other infections, a large number of asymptomatic cases, travelers can deny symptoms or take steps to avoid detection, and passenger data was limited .

The CDC report also adds that travelers and their local communities would be better protected if there was a “more efficient” collection of contact information for international air passengers prior to their arrival and real-time data that could be sent to health departments. of the United States.

According to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, the United States has reported 10,523,260 coronavirus cases and 242,577 deaths so far.

With input from ANI

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