Six airports currently participate in the volunteer COVID detection tests.
covid test passport © Rudzhan - stock.adobe.com
Over 1 billion travelers visit U.S. airports every year. For this reason, airline passengers are one of the most important populations to consider when it comes to identifying and tracking COVID and other pathogens.
The Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance Program (TGS), which is led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Travelers’ Health Branch has been collecting nasal swabs from international travelers since 2021. It currently operates at six airports in the U.S.
The CDC announced Tuesday that it will be adding Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Miami International Airport to its list of locations that participate in the program.
International travelers who wish to participate can stop at a testing station after their flight to self-administer a nasal swab and complete an anonymous, short survey about their trip. Samples are then sent to a laboratory where they undergo genome sequencing to detect COVID variants and other respiratory pathogens.
The program currently operates at six U.S. airports:
Since it launched in Sept. 2021, TGS has enrolled roughly 300,000 travelers per year from over 135 countries.
In addition to nasal swabs, the CDC has also been collecting wastewater from airplanes since Aug. 2022. At Dulles International Airport, samples are taken directly from the plane. At Boston Logan International Airport and JFK, samples are collected from the airport triturator, which is the wastewater collection point for multiple aircraft.
The CDC says that wastewater collection is a low-cost method that removes the need to interact with travelers who are potentially carrying pathogens.
Overall, TGS has been an effective early warning system and was able to detect multiple Omicron variants up to six weeks before other agencies in the U.S.
Healthcare hasn't been a priority of the second Trump administration so far, panelists at the Asembia agreed. Medicaid may loom large, though, as the administration and congressional Republicans look for ways to slash government spending as a way of offsetting major tax cuts.
Read More
Conversations With Perry and Friends
April 14th 2025Perry Cohen, Pharm.D., a longtime member of the Managed Healthcare Executive editorial advisory board, is host of the Conversations with Perry and Friends podcast. His guest this episode is John Baackes, the former CEO of L.A. Care Health Plan.
Listen
Breaking Down Health Plans, HSAs, AI With Paul Fronstin of EBRI
November 19th 2024Featured in this latest episode of Tuning In to the C-Suite podcast is Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research at EBRI, who shed light on the evolving landscape of health benefits with editors of Managed Healthcare Executive.
Listen
Survey: What Patients and Providers Are Thinking About Healthcare Access
April 28th 2025Patients and providers found common ground on the importance of correct billing estimates but did not see eye to eye in terms of digital scheduling tool use, according to a new survey by Experian Health.
Read More