Page 3 - aruba-today-20230309

A3
U.S. NEWS Thursday 9 March 2023
U.S. to relax COVID testing rules for travelers from China

By AAMER MADHANI and It has been left to the air-
ZEKE MILLER lines to confirm negative
Associated Press tests and documentation
WASHINGTON (AP) — The of recovery before passen-
Biden administration is pre- gers board.
paring to relax COVID-19 China saw infections and
testing restrictions for trav- deaths surge after it eased
elers from China as soon as back from its “zero COVD”
Friday, according to two strategy in early December
people familiar with the after rare public protests
decision. against a policy that con-
The people, who were not fined millions of people to
authorized to comment their homes and sparked
publicly and spoke on protests and demands for
the condition of anonym- President Xi Jinping to re-
ity, said the administration sign.
has decided to roll back But as China eased its strict
the testing requirements rules, infections and deaths
as cases, hospitalizations surged, and parts of the
and deaths are declining country for weeks saw their
in China and the U.S. has hospitals overwhelmed by
gathered better informa- infected patients looking
tion about the surge. for help.
The restrictions were put Residents wait to cross a road near members of the Chaoyang militia on duty in Beijing, Still, the Chinese govern-
in place on Dec. 28 and Monday, March 6, 2023. ment has been slow to re-
took effect on Jan. 5 amid Associated Press lease data on the number
a surge in infections in Chi- was necessary to protect weekly flights from China, testing applies to anyone 2 of deaths and infections.
na after the nation sharply U.S. citizens and communi- and the testing of wastewa- years and older, including The U.S. decision to lift re-
eased pandemic restric- ties because there was a ter aboard airplanes. The U.S. citizens. strictions comes at a mo-
tions and as U.S. health of- lack of transparency from Traveler-based Genomic It also applied to people ment when U.S.-China re-
ficials expressed concerns the Chinese government Surveillance Program will traveling from China via a lations are strained. Biden
that their Chinese counter- about the size of the surge continue to monitor travel- third country and to peo- ordered a Chinese spy bal-
parts were not being truth- or the variants that were ers from China and more ple connecting through loon shot down last month
ful to the world about the circulating within China. than 30 other countries. the U.S. as they go on to after it traversed the con-
true number of infections As part of its response, the The rules imposed in Janu- other destinations. tinental United States. The
and deaths. The Washing- Centers for Disease Control ary require travelers to the Anyone testing positive Biden administration has
ton Post was first to report and Prevention earlier this U.S. from China, Hong Kong more than 10 days be- also publicized U.S. intel-
on Tuesday about the ex- year expanded genomic and Macau to take a COV- fore the flight can provide ligence findings that raise
pected administration surveillance at several U.S. ID-19 test no more than two documentation showing concern Beijing is weigh-
move. airports, collecting volun- days before travel and pro- they’ve recovered from ing providing Russia weap-
At the time, U.S. officials tary samples from passen- vide a negative test before COVID-19 instead of a neg- onry for its ongoing war on
also said the restriction gers aboard hundreds of boarding their flight. The ative test result. Ukraine.q

White House, states tackle ‘junk fees’ that cost consumers

By FATIMA HUSSEIN price. “States can enforce a pro- about making sure there’s companies that want to be
Associated Press The director of the Con- hibition on certain abusive fair market dealing that good actors and that want
WASHINGTON (AP) — The sumer Financial Protection acts or practices,” Chopra prices are upfront and to price transparently,” she
White House brought to- Bureau, Rohit Chopra, en- said. clearly disclosed, but also said.
gether state lawmakers, couraged state lawmakers “These words might seem that consumers have a State lawmakers on the
federal officials and others to use consumer protection like obscure legal con- chance to avoid those fees call shared examples of
Wednesday to trade ideas laws already on the books. cepts, but they’re really if they don’t actually want how they pursued efforts to
about how to fight “junk that service.” eliminate specific junk fees.
fees” that inflate the cost The bureau is the nation’s fi- Democratic state Sen.
to consumers of everything nancial watchdog agency James Skoufis of New
from hospital visits and air- and was created in 2011 York talked about how he
line tickets to student loans after the Great Recession. worked on legislation that
and concert seats. Lael Brainard, who recently eliminated junk fees in live
The virtual meeting comes took the helm of the Na- entertainment ticketing by
after President Joe Biden tional Economic Council banning delivery charges
said in February that his after serving as vice chair on tickets that are emailed
administration would work of the Federal Reserve, said and profiting from tickets
with state and local officials a lack of transparency in that were originally issued
to identify ways to crack pricing is bad for businesses for free.
down on such fees. and consumers because it “There’s a lot more work
A Government Account- encourages companies in to be done in this space,”
ability Office report from the same industries to be- Skoufis said.
2018 on event ticket sales President Joe Biden announces his administration’s plans to gin to hide fees in order to The administration is pursu-
found that primary ticket eliminate junk fees for consumers, Oct. 26, 2022, in the South compete and creates a ing elimination of added
providers charged fees av- Court Auditorium on the White House campus in Washington. “race to the bottom.” fees across the federal
eraging 27% of a ticket’s Associated Press “Excessive fees hurt the government.q