Traveling this summer? Here’s what experts say you should do to stop COVID spread
Summer travel is complicating public health officials’ efforts to contain COVID-19 as cases spike in some of the nation’s popular tourist destinations.
White House officials have repeatedly sounded alarms in recent weeks that one in five new cases is in Florida, but that figure likely undercounts the spread in the southern state.
“If you’re from Nebraska and you come to Florida for your vacation and you test positive, it’s not going to be counted,” said Dr. Jason Salemi, an epidemiologist at the University of South Florida, who has been tracking the state’s cases on his website. “Florida is only counting residents.”
Salemi said it’s difficult to quantify the role tourism plays in helping spread the virus because of a lack of data on cases among travelers from other states, but he and other medical experts say it’s a factor helping drive infections both in the tourist destinations and home states upon return.
Even a beach vacation likely involves time in crowded indoor areas that are ripe for spread, experts said.
“I do imagine that tourism is great for business, but it’s probably not helping a lot in terms of the spread of the virus,” Salemi said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not advised against domestic travel but acknowledged it was contributing to the spread of the virus — even among vaccinated people — in a study released last week on a July outbreak of cases in Provincetown, Mass., a popular vacation area on Cape Cod.
The data showed 74% of the 469 cases occurred among fully vaccinated individuals. According to the report, people who were part of the outbreak said that they went to densely packed indoor and outdoor events at bars, restaurants and rental homes.
The report mentioned “the potential risk of infection during attendance at large public gatherings that include travelers from many areas with differing levels of transmission.”
While guidance involving domestic travel is handled at the state-level, President Joe Biden’s administration has not recommended states impose stricter restrictions even as it has urged areas that have substantial or high amounts of spread to reinstate indoor mask mandates.
“The more we have folks moving around the more likely we are to see viral spread,” said Cameron Webb, White House senior policy adviser for COVID-19 equity. “But we can mitigate that with good public health practices, whether it’s the vaccine, which is our best approach, or whether it’s kind of the masking, maintaining distance, avoiding crowded spaces, which I think is also very critical.”
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky in an interview Friday said vacationers should ensure they’re vaccinated and consult state and local guidelines before they travel.
“But then the other thing I might say that’s really important for travel, or otherwise, is if you have any symptoms that might be considered COVID — upper respiratory symptoms, loss of taste or smell — please do get tested, because many people are saying, ‘oh, it’s just the common cold that I’ve gotten,’ and they’re not even thinking to get tested,” Walensky said.
Biden said Friday that more COVID-19 related restrictions are possible in the future, but on Monday White House press secretary Jen Psaki emphasized that “we’re not going back to the shutdowns of March of 2020.”
LOW VACCINATION, HIGH TOURISM
The more contagious delta variant combined with low vaccination rates in states that are popular for tourists, such as Florida and Nevada, have been a recipe for a surge in cases, experts say.
Nevada, the center of gambling tourism with Las Vegas and Reno, last week reimposed an indoor mask mandate. Publicly available data demonstrates a high degree of spread, and less than half of the state’s residents over age 12 are fully vaccinated.
Several California counties, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, have also reinstated mask-wearing. Neither county has infections at the rate that the CDC says mask-wearing should be compulsory for the vaccinated nor does the overall state, but California is now encouraging the use of face coverings indoors for everyone.
The rate of COVID cases relative to population is higher in Florida, where 61% of the population is now vaccinated, than anywhere else in the country. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said “no to restrictions, no to mandates.”
Dr. Taison Bell, an assistant professor at the University of Virginia and director of UVA’s medical intensive care unit, said he sees a connection between “high tourism, a lax approach to public health mitigation measures and low vaccination rates.” He said Florida fits into that category.
“It’s hard to put domestic travel back in the bag once you let it out, because so much of our economy has depended on it,” Bell said.
“The previous variants, what we were doing was working, but delta is clearly different, and we have to change strategy,” he said. Bell recommended that unvaccinated individuals quarantine for 14 days after traveling to a high transmission area and vaccinated individuals who have been to one of those areas get tested if they are exhibiting COVID-like symptoms.
Anyone spending extended time with others indoors or in close contact outdoors for long periods of time in areas of high transmission should get a test several days later, said Mara Aspinall, an adviser to the Rockefeller Foundation and a professor at Arizona State University.
“If you’re indoors with unmasked people, finish your vacation, test when you get home,” she said.
“I think that people who are at an event should test four days after they get home to ensure they’re not unwittingly spreading,” she said. “Even if they’re vaccinated.”
The U.S. Travel Association is encouraging vaccination and following CDC guidance. Tori Emerson Barnes, executive vice president of public affairs and policy at U.S. Travel, said more stringent guidelines, such as a quarantine for vaccinated individuals, could be a “deterrent” to travel.
“These restrictions just create a patchwork environment across the country, where travelers just don’t understand what they can do, where they can go, what’s safe, what’s not safe,” she said.
INCREASES COVID RISK
Missouri is also experiencing a high level of coronavirus spread, especially in areas around popular vacation destinations like Branson and the Lake of the Ozarks.
“While it may be somewhat speculative, we do feel some spread is occurring in these communities due to tourism,” said Lisa Cox, a spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services.
Dr. Rex Archer, who retired last week as the director of health at the Kansas City Health Department, pointed to indoor music venues in Branson, which is in a county with a vaccination rate of under 30%, as an environment where it’s easy for the disease to spread.
“We know what increases the risk—indoor exposure in crowded venues where people are talking or singing,” Archer said. “You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to know venues where people aren’t wearing masks, particularly in areas of the state where people aren’t vaccinated, you’re causing more illness.”
McClatchy’s Michael Wilner contributed reporting.
This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Traveling this summer? Here’s what experts say you should do to stop COVID spread."
