Why Aren't Refugees Being Tested for Covid-19?
President Trump has the authority to add it to the list of 'quarantinable diseases' to mandate testing prior to resettlement
By Nayla Rush on October 29, 2020
Summary: By law, people moving to the United States are required to be tested for "quarantinable communicable diseases" prior to their arrival. The CDC has labeled Covid-19 as a "quarantinable communicable disease" requiring a suspension of entry into the U.S of people from certain countries. Despite this, refugees are not required to be tested for Covid-19 before being brought here for resettlement. President Trump can remedy this by issuing an executive order specifically adding Covid-19 to the list of "quarantinable communicable diseases" last updated by President Obama in 2014.
The Trump administration plans on resettling up to 15,000 refugees in FY 2021.1 Should Joe Biden win next week, he has pledged to increase this ceiling more than eightfold, to 125,000.2
Regardless of the election outcome, however, refugees will likely not be tested for the Covid-19 virus prior to being admitted here — a legitimate assumption since the thousands who were resettled following the virus outbreak in FY 2020 were not.
This is worrisome given that the UN warns that refugees are especially vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus.3 What's more, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified4 the virus as falling into the "quarantinable communicable diseases" category,5 one component of the "communicable diseases of public health significance" that are grounds for inadmissibility into the United States when identified during the required medical examination overseas.6
https://cis.org/Report/Why-Arent-Refugees-Being-Tested-Covid19
