The U.S. public is ready to travel again–over 1.5 million people took a flight on Sunday, the highest in over a year. According to the TSA, 1,543,115 travelers were screened on March 21, compared to 548,132 on the same day in 2020. The many more that want to head overseas, as well as the U.S. tourist industry, have been given hope in the form of a possible time frame for when international borders might reopen.
According to CNBC, two sources in the administration have reported that President Biden is “looking toward the middle of May” to revoke several of these bans. Namely, to relax restrictions on the land border with Mexico and Canada, and to allow inbound international travel from the U.K., Europe and Brazil.
CNBC reported that there has been no policy memo nor formal codification of the May time frame. The month of May is reportedly the target because that is most likely when vaccinations might reach enough of a threshold to allow travel to begin again. According to one senior administration official, “there is going to be a sea change in mid-May when vaccines are more widely available to everyone.”