Travel Expert: New Rule Adds Huge Layer of Uncertainty

MINNEAPOLIS -- Going on a Caribbean or Mexican vacation just got a whole lot more challenging. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention says starting on January 26th you'll need to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 three to five days before you board a flight to reenter the United States.

Kyle Potter is the Executive Editor for Minneapolis-based ThriftyTraveler.com. He says this adds a huge layer of uncertainty for vacationers.

Even U.S. citizens who leave the country to go to Mexico or somewhere in the Caribbean, when they go home they need to get a COVID test in Mexico or Jamaica or the Dominican Republic in order to board the flight to get home.

Potter says figuring out where to go for that test in a foreign country could be a big barrier for travelers.

The uncertainty of what's going to happen if you go to Mexico, somehow contract COVID, and then try to get home and find out that you're not going to be able to leave the country for another seven to 10 days.

Potter says he'll be watching to see if airlines step-up for testing options, or if airports and individual hotels and resorts will make tests available for guests.

Potter does note this new testing rule is almost a year in the making and follows similar guidelines other countries have had in place since the COVID-19 pandemic began.