[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 36 (Monday, February 24, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10439-10440]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03636]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Collection of Certain Data Regarding Passengers and Crew Arriving
From Foreign Countries by Airlines
AGENCY: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACTION: Agency order.
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SUMMARY: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a
component of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS),
announces the issuance of an Order requiring airlines to collect and
provide information about any passenger who has departed from, or was
otherwise present within, the People's Republic of China (excluding the
special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau) within 14 days
of the person's entry or attempted entry into the United States via
that airline's carriage (``Designated Passenger'').
DATES: This order was issued on February 18, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jennifer Buigut, Division of Global
Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
1600 Clifton Road NE, MS V18-2, Atlanta, GA 30329. Phone: 404-498-1600.
Email: [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On February 12, 2020 HHS/CDC published an Interim Final Rule (IFR)
in the Federal Register amending its Foreign Quarantine regulations at
42 CFR part 71 (85 FR 7874) to enable CDC to require airlines to
collect, and, upon order of the Director of CDC, provide to CDC in a
timelier manner, certain data regarding passengers and crew arriving
from foreign countries for the purposes of health education, treatment,
prophylaxis, or other appropriate public health interventions,
including travel restrictions. This Interim Final Rule became effective
on February 7, 2020, the day on which it went on display at the Office
of the Federal Register. HHS/CDC undertook this rulemaking because a
fundamental component of the public health response to the report of a
person with a communicable disease is the identification and evaluation
of those who may have been exposed. Thus, in order to control the
introduction, transmission, and spread of communicable diseases into
the United States, such as COVID-19, CDC must be able to identify and
locate persons arriving in the United States from a foreign country who
may have been exposed to a communicable disease abroad. Another
fundamental component of a public health response is identifying and
contacting those individuals who may have come in contact with a person
with a communicable disease and who may be at risk of contracting the
disease as a result of their interactions with such
[[Page 10440]]
affected persons. The identification and notification of those exposed
is an essential first step in providing the exposed access to
potentially life-saving medical screening, follow-up, disease
prevention measures, including vaccination and other preventive
treatments, and medical treatment and supportive care. Preventing
secondary cases among contacts, in turn, helps prevent the propagation
and spread of disease within the community. Therefore, travelers and
the public at large derive direct benefit from a system that ensures
that, if an exposure has occurred, health authorities can identify,
locate, and notify affected passengers and those individuals who came
into contact with them within the incubation period of the disease.
Contact tracing is effective at reducing cases of communicable disease
at the early stages of a potential outbreak if the contacts are
notified as soon after initial exposure as possible. If an efficient
contact system is not in place when the first ill passengers arrive,
the benefits of the contact tracing are greatly diminished.
Order of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of
Health and Human Services Under 42 CFR 71.31 and 71.4
Attn: Each airline carrying a passenger who has departed from, or
was otherwise present within, the People's Republic of China (excluding
the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau) within 14
days of the date of the passenger's entry or attempted entry into the
United States via that airline's carriage.
In accordance with 42 CFR 71.31(b) and 71.4(d), as authorized by 42
U.S.C. 264:
1. Each airline is hereby ordered to collect and provide
information about any passenger who has departed from, or was otherwise
present within, the People's Republic of China (excluding the special
administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau) within 14 days of the
date of the passenger's entry or attempted entry into the United States
via that airline's carriage (``Designated Passengers'').
2. Each airline must collect and provide the following information
(``Designated Information'') to the extent such information exists for
any Designated Passenger carried by that airline:
a. Full name (last, first, and, if available, middle or others);
b. Primary contact phone number to include country code, at which a
Designated Passenger can be contacted while in the United States;
c. Secondary contact phone number to include country code;
d. Address or addresses while a Designated Passenger is in the
United States (number and street, city, State, and zip code), except
that a U.S. citizen or a lawful permanent resident will provide address
of permanent residence in the United States (number and street, city,
State, and zip code); and
e. Email address that a Designated Passenger will use for email
communications while in the United States.
3. Each airline must produce, using existing data-sharing channels,
the Designated Information to the Director of the CDC's Division of
Global Migration and Quarantine (``DGMQ''), or his representative. If
existing data-sharing channels become unavailable, within 12 hours, the
affected airline or airlines must identify an alternate means of
transmitting the required data in a manner acceptable to CDC.
4. Each airline must provide Designated Information within 2 hours
of the departure of the flight carrying a Designated Passenger.
5. Before or immediately upon arrival in the United States, each
airline must provide to CDC (the head of the arrival airport's
Quarantine Station) the name of any Designated Passenger who had
refused or was otherwise unable to provide all five fields of the
Designated Information prior to departure.
6. Each airline must provide Designated Information for the
duration of the January 31, 2020 Proclamation on Suspension of Entry as
Immigrants and Nonimmigrants of Persons who Pose a Risk of Transmitting
2019 Coronavirus. This order will cease to be effective when the
Interim Final Rule at Federal Register, Vol. 85, No. 29, ceases to be
effective.
The CDC Director has determined that Designated Passengers may be
at risk of exposure to COVID-19. CDC will use this information for the
purposes of public health follow-up, such as health education,
treatment, prophylaxis, or other appropriate public health
interventions, including travel restrictions.
``Airline'' as used in this order has the meaning provided at 42
CFR 71.1(b).
Failure to comply with this order may result in the imposition of
fines or other penalties as provided in 42 U.S.C. 271 and 42 CFR 71.2,
or as otherwise provided by law. CDC maintains information retrieved by
personal identifier in accordance with federal law, including the
Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a). Identifiable information may be
shared only for lawful purposes, including with authorized personnel of
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, state and local
public health departments, and other cooperating authorities. CDC will
delete the Designated Information when no longer required for the
purposes set forth above, in accordance with federal law, and request
that State and local governments do the same.
CDC may modify this order by an updated publication in the Federal
Register or by posting an advisory to follow at www.cdc.gov.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act applies to the collection of this
information. CDC has obtained approval from the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) for this data collection titled `Airline and Vessel
and Traveler Information Collection (42 CFR part 71)' under OMB Control
No. 0920-1180 (exp. May 30, 2020).
Dated: February 19, 2020.
Robert R. Redfield,
Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
[FR Doc. 2020-03636 Filed 2-19-20; 4:45 pm]
BILLING CODE 4163-18-P