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CDC launches pilot program to enhance disease surveillance of air travelers

Devan Markham

Travelers wait to board a plane at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, on April 22, 2022. - The US government is appealing a court ruling that controversially lifted a federal mask mandate on public transport earlier this week, the Justice Department said on April 20. After the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, assessed that masks remain "necessary to protect the public health, the Department has filed a notice of appeal," spokesman Anthony Coley said. A US federal judge on April 18 struck down the Covid-19 mask mandate, stating that it exceeded the CDC's statutory authority. (Photo by Daniel SLIM / AFP) (Photo by DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is launching a new pilot program to enhance its disease surveillance of international travelers, hoping to provide earlier detection of flu, RSV and other respiratory viruses.

The CDC’s Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance (TGS) program is voluntary and anonymous for more than 360,000 air travelers enrolled. Ginkgo Bioworks and XpresCheck will implement the pilot, which will last for several months.


Positive samples will be arranged and uploaded to a public database to inform public health officials and policymakers, the press release said.

“The expansion of the Traveler-based Genomic Surveillance program to flu, RSV, and other pathogens is essential as we head into fall respiratory season,” Dr. Cindy Friedman, chief of CDC’s Travelers’ Health Branch, said.

The TGS program began during the COVID-19 pandemic and acted as an early warning system to detect rare and new variants of the virus, the press release said.

The program is currently operating at seven major airports in the U.S. and announced plans to expand testing at four of those major airports to screen for more than 30 pathogens, CNN reported. These airports include: Boston Logan International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C. and John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.