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Sydney Newton
The CDC released new international travel guidelines that require a negative COVID-19 test before and a week-long quarantine when coming back to the U.S., causing many East seniors to alter their senior spring break plans.
Following the guidelines, anyone entering the U.S. aged two years or older must personally obtain a negative COVID-19 test within three days of their flight or offer proof of recovering from the virus in the past three months. Anyone who does not follow these guidelines will be denied entry on their flight.
According to USA Today, there is already evidence that the testing requirement is having an effect, since United Airlines said that it has also seen a has seen an increase in cancellations and a decrease in bookings to beach resorts since the guidelines were announced. According to senior Zoey Lovern, many seniors have had to cancel flights because of the guidelines.
Lovern and her group of friends canceled their flights to the Bahamas and decided to to rent a house in Seaside, Fla. instead after hearing about the required negative COVID-19 test.
“Those guidelines scared us a lot,” Lovern said. “We were scared that if one of us got sick, we would all be stuck down there for a while, and we would end up spending so much money.”
Lovern, along with the rest of her group, had been looking forward to finally participating in the traditional Bahamas senior spring break and even more to spending time with classmates in their last big group event of high school since planning the trip in June. But with the change of location, her original group was split up. After looking at the pictures of the senior groups in the Bahamas from previous years, senior spring break gave Lovern hope for normalcy in her senior year, until the new guidelines altered her plans.
“Senior year has honestly been a series of disappointments,” Lovern said. “That’s what was so hard. When everyone was so [upset] in our grade, we had something to look forward to. It was pretty disappointing.”
Senior Claire Baker’s group may also change plans of going to the Bahamas due to parents’ concerns about the quarantine when returning to the U.S. Since Baker has had a countdown to senior spring break on her phone since October, she is hopeful that her plans won’t change.
“The one thing that I’ve been looking forward to all year is just a fun senior spring break with all of my friends,” Baker said. “It’s been a light at the end of the tunnel when so many things were canceled already senior year. If we can’t really have a senior spring break, I’ll be pretty upset.”
The negative test requirement already existed in other countries such as Canada and the United Kingdom and was formalized in President Joe Biden’s executive order on COVID-19 safety in domestic and international travel. Senior Claire Perkins Rock thinks that the guidelines should have been made awhile ago, but will also create an excuse for students to travel.
Perkins Rock feels traveling is unsafe despite the guidelines because of busy airports and the possibility of spreading the virus to another country, or bringing it back. She believes that traveling for spring break will only make the pandemic worse, so Perkins Rock doesn’t believe the risk is worth it.
“You’re surrounded by news headlines of people dying and the virus spreading,” Perkins Rock said. “I think it’s such a selfish thought process to put those things to the back of your head and plan a vacation. This year has been hard for us but it’s going to keep being hard until we’re all putting in the effort and taking time to do what’s right, not what’s best in the moment.”
The test required to come back to the U.S. is up to the traveler to obtain before boarding the plane. Senior Josh Tilton, who is still going to Mexico despite the guidelines, will get his COVID test at his resort, which also requires a negative test to enter and leave. If anyone in Tilton’s group tests positive, they will have to stay at the resort for an extra two weeks.
With the testing at the resort and the mask-mandate in airports, Tilton feels that the resort itself is safe, and that the riskiest part will be getting there and back.
“I think we’re lucky that the resort we’re staying at is testing us before we get there and before we’re allowed to leave,” Tilton said. “Not all places are doing that. That makes me feel more comfortable about it.”
Originally considering going with Tilton’s group, senior Sarah Bingham is concerned about the required week quarantine. She already has to miss a week of club volleyball practice for the trip, so the chance of missing two, or even three, weeks of practice is something she doesn’t feel she, or other members of her group, can afford.
“A lot of us play sports,” Bingham said. “There’s soccer players and baseball guys. Our parents have work too. A lot of people are hesitant of having to miss that much of our lives at home.”
Although the CDC guidelines are in place to provide safety precautions, many seniors are disappointed in yet another canceled plan, according to Lovern.
“Senior spring break is kind of a last hoorah for the seniors,” Lovern said. “That’s one thing I’ve always liked about senior year too. It’s a chance to hang out with people you don’t normally because everyone is leaving soon. But we don’t really get a chance to do that.”
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