[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