New US travel rules: What you need to know about the changes prompted by Omicron - CNN

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(CNN) — Just when we thought US travel rules were starting to stabilize, along comes Omicron.

The dominoes fell quickly after South African health authorities informed the world of their discovery of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus in late November.

The Biden administration rolled out controversial travel bans on arrivals from eight nations in southern Africa. Travelers found themselves unexpectedly stranded. And now US officials have said they will be tightening travel regulations again.

Things are changing by the day and even by the hour, but here are some of the questions people have about US travel rules -- and answers we have as of December 2:

Are testing rules for entry into the US changing?

All inbound international travelers will be required to test within one day of departure for the United States starting Monday.

All flights departing after 12:01 a.m. ET December 6 will abide by a new CDC testing order, per an administration official.

President Joe Biden speaks about the Omicron variant during a visit to the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, on Thursday.

Evan Vucci/AP

Currently, vaccinated travelers are required to test within three days of their departure. There is a requirement for foreign travelers arriving in the United States to be fully vaccinated.

Unvaccinated Americans and legal permanent residents are allowed to enter the country with a test taken within one day of departing for the United States. The new rule will make the testing time frame one day for everyone.

Biden also announced that the federal mask mandate requiring travelers to wear masks in airports, on planes and on other modes of public transportation such as trains and buses has been extended through March 18.

A Covid-19 test center operates inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport on December 1.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Is there a post-arrival testing or quarantine requirement?

There is not. "We're not announcing any steps on post-arrival testing and quarantine," a senior administration official said in a press briefing on Wednesday evening.

"I will say -- look, if additional measures are recommended, if additional measures can be implemented well and are effective, we won't hesitate to take them, but we're not taking them today," the official said, according to a White House transcript of that briefing.

What countries fall under the new US travel ban?

The travel bans announced on November 26 bar entry into the US of noncitizens coming from eight countries in southern Africa. They are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

On November 27, the CDC placed them all at Level 4 "very high" risk for Covid-19. (Botswana was already at Level 4 because of its caseload -- more than 500 per 100,000 residents in the past 28 days.)

Citizens of those nations and citizens of other nations who have been traveling there in the past 14 days are currently not allowed entry into the United States.

Can US citizens already in those nations return?

Yes they can.

As of December 2, they still had to follow the rules already in place to re-enter: A negative result from a Covid-19 test within three days of travel if fully vaccinated and within one day of travel if unvaccinated.

Can US citizens still travel to the banned nations?

Technically, yes.

At least two US carriers are still flying back and forth from South Africa, for example. Delta Air Lines is still offering Atlanta-Johannesburg service, and United Airlines is still offering Newark-Johannesburg service.

United Airlines is also resuming nonstop service between Newark and Cape Town, according to a news release from South African Tourism. The release also said, "we would like to emphasize that our country remains open for all those travelers who wish to visit."

An American family stuck in Johannesburg, South Africa, amid new Covid-19 travel restrictions talk about their experience in trying to get back home.

Whether it's advisable to go is another matter. The CDC advises against it.

You might also encounter new travel barriers. For instance, Zimbabwe imposed a lockdown and mandatory quarantine on Tuesday, November 30, for travelers, state-run news agency NewZiana reported.

Going to southern African nations while bans are in place around the world might cause you to be banned from going to other countries. For instance, the United Kingdom is not allowing anyone who has been to "red list "countries -- which include Angola and Zambia as well as the eight discussed above -- from entering except its own returning citizens.

What is the US doing to detect the virus?

The CDC also confirmed to CNN on Wednesday that officials have directed airlines carrying passengers that have been to certain southern African nations to share those passengers' contact information with the agency.

Airlines have already been gathering contact information from passengers under a CDC contact tracing order that has been in effect since November 8.

CNN Travel will update this article as new information becomes available and rules change. CNN's Wayne Chang, Kaitlan Collins, Jacqueline Howard, Pete Muntean, Megan Vazquez and Greg Wallace contributed to this report.

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