Travel Guidelines, Isolation and Quarantine in Travel

RITIK SHARMA

Cite this article as: Sharma R. Travel Guidelines, Isolation and Quarantine in Travel. Int Healthc Res J. 2022;6(3):RV1-RV3. https://doi.org/10.26440/IHRJ/0603.06546

Author Affiliations:

BDS Final Year Student, Himachal Dental College, Sundernagar, Himachal Pradesh, India. (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4435-800X)

Contact Corresponding Author at: ritikraftar1313[at]gmail[dot]com

ABSTRACT

In this day and age, travelling is an essential part of humankind. However, Covid-19 is not over yet and travelling continues to be risky. Hence, World Health Organisation and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issue guidelines which everyone must follow during travel. From installation of hand sanitizers to wearing masks by everyone, Covid-19 has changed the world of travel.

KEYWORDS: Travel, WHO, CDC, COVID-19

INTRODUCTION

In December 2019, there was a sudden outburst of an inexplicable pneumonia. This outbreak was characterised by fever, dry cough, fatigue, and occasional gastrointestinal symptoms in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Moreover, this malady travelled to other nations like Thailand, Japan, Republic of Korea, Germany, United States, and Singapore. The first case of Covid-19 reported in India was on January 21^st, 2019. Therefore, to cease spread of the cases of covid-19, The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidelines for travelling, which were focussed towards containing the spread of this disease.^1,2

Travel guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO)

It was on 30^th January 2020 that the outbreak of novel corona virus Covid-19 was considered as Public Health Emergency of International Concern by the WHO Director General. As this was of international concern, the WHO recommended rules for travel and trade which are briefly explained as follows:

Measures to be followed before embarkation

Communication, coordination and planning with competent authorities.
The aircraft should be properly staffed with sufficient medical personnel with appropriate PPE and supplies to respond to an illness enroute.
Temperature measurement and passengers to fill a questionnaire for early detection of symptoms.

Onboarding the aircraft

The seat numbers of the passengers in the aircraft should be noted.
In case of severe illness of a passenger, the crew should take the ill passenger to the medical personnel for treatment.
Use of personal protective equipment when treating the patients.
Adjacent seats should be kept empty, if possible.
The information and contact details of the person who was in close vicinity with the unwell person should be recorded.
Patient should maintain cough etiquette by sneezing into disposable tissues.
Notifying appropriate health authority(ies) at the point of arrival.

Upon arrival of the aircraft

Temperature screening alone may not be efficient because of the incubation period of the disease. Hence, temperature screening should be accompanied by health messages, primary questionnaire, data collection and analysis.

Travel guidelines by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

There are two types of situations in which people should not travel:

People with known or suspected symptoms of Covid-19
Individuals who have close contact with the exposed people.

Prior to the Travel

Always get information about the level of Covid-19 in the landing place.

Travel should be planned keeping the restrictions of particular state or region which include wearing masks, vaccination certificate, test or quarantine requirements.
Be ready for any situation as travel restrictions may change.

Patients are advised not to travel if they have tested positive, show symptoms or were in close contact with an exposed person or having a weak immune system.

During travel³

People who are more than 2 years of age should wear proper masks in indoor public places or crowded places.
People should follow rules to protect self and others from getting infected.

After travel

First and foremost, get tested. If tested positive, one should isolate self to prevent others from getting infected.
If one has recovered from Covid-19 in the past 90 days, one need not to get tested. However, if the person gets symptoms, isolate self immediately and get tested.

Isolation and Quarantine in Travel

According to CDC, Isolation and Quarantine helps to prevent spread of disease from the exposed people to unexposed ones.

Isolation: it separates exposed people from the people who are not sick.

Quarantine: separates and restricts the movement of people who were exposed to a contagious disease to see if they become sick.

Quarantine word was derived from the Italian word “quaranta giorni” which means 40 days. The practice of quarantine started during 14^th century to protect the coastal cities from plaque epidemics. Ships from Venice’s infected ports were asked to stay at the anchor for 40 days. After the establishment of United States, quarantine was introduced to prevent it from any foreign infectious disease. In the late 19^th century, cholera outbreak from the Europe gave rise to the quarantine in 1892. The Public Health Act, 1944 established federal government’s quarantine authority for the first time.

Quarantine now

The Division of Global Migration and Quarantine is part of CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases and headquartered in Atlanta. Quarantine stations are present in Anchorage, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, El Paso, Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, Newark, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, San Juan, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

The diseases that require quarantine are cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis, Covid-19.

Many diseases like measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, do not require quarantine.

CONCLUSION

There are several contagious diseases like Covid-19 which are deadly. Thus, to control the spread of such diseases, every nation should have proper and restrictive guidelines. International bodies like World Health Organization and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention introduced rules to prevent both mortality and morbidity due to any disease.

REFERENCE

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Travel Guidelines. (Online Article). Available from: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/ [Last Accessed on 15^th April, 2022]
World Health Organization. Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) travel. (Online Article). Available from: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/ [Last Accessed on 15^th April, 2022]
BBC. The new normal? Travel in the world of Covid-19. (Online Article). Available from: https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/travel/travel-on/the-new-normal-travel-in-the-covid-19-world. [Last Accessed on 15^th April, 2022]

© Ritik Sharma. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY-NC 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the use is not commercial and the original author(s) and source are cited.

Submitted on: 16-Apr-2022; Accepted on: 12-Jun-2022