Traveler Risk Assessment and Management Activities During Disease Outbreaks
Contact:
Rudith Vice
National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30333
Phone: (404) 718-7292
Email: nhr9@cdc.gov
1. Respondent Universe and Sampling Methods 2
2. Procedures for the Collection of Information 2
3. Methods to maximize Response Rates and Deal with No Response 2
4. Tests of Procedures or Methods to be Undertaken 2
5. Individuals Consulted on Statistical Aspects and Individuals Collecting and/or Analyzing Data 2
No statistical methods will be used but CDC will report aggregate totals of number of travelers screened, contacted, etc. as appropriate.
The respondent universe for this information collection request is travelers coming from areas overseas affected by disease outbreaks and health departments conducting traveler follow-up and monitoring activities.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Global Migration Health (DGMH) requests an emergency approval for a new information collection.
Section 361 of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 USC 264) (Attachment A1) authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make and enforce regulations necessary to prevent the introduction, transmission or spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States. Under its delegated authority, DGMH works to fulfill this responsibility through a variety of activities, including the operation of Port Health Stations at ports of entry and administration of foreign quarantine regulations; 42 Code of Federal Regulation part 71 (Attachment A2), specifically 42 CFR 71.20 Public health prevention measures to detect communicable disease. This information collection concerns CDC’s responsibility to ensure the successful implementation of traveler monitoring to prevent the transmission or spread of communicable diseases into the United States.
The purpose of this information collection is to determine the public health risk that travelers arriving in the U.S. from an outbreak area may pose and to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of CDC’s public health interventions. The information collected will be used to
determine if travelers have symptoms consistent with an outbreak disease and should be isolated and medically evaluated upon arrival in the US;
assist state and local health departments with understanding which travelers from the region may be at higher risk of becoming ill and should be prioritized for taking certain public health protection measures, such as quarantine;
conduct post-arrival symptom monitoring of travelers with certain exposure risks in accordance with CDC recommendations;
gather feedback from state and local health department partners on CDC’s recommendations and post-arrival management of travelers;
assess the quality of traveler contact information provided to health departments of jurisdiction for follow-up;
inform the development of future guidance and recommendations for post-arrival traveler management during disease outbreaks;
update public health messaging to more efficiently reach travelers and provide information about disease outbreaks;
and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of entry screening and post-arrival symptom monitoring and reduce burden for travelers where feasible.
CDC collects international travelers’ contact information under authorities in the Interim Final Rule: Control of Communicable Diseases: Foreign Quarantine and CDC’s Order: Requirement for Airlines and Operators to Collect and Transmit Designated Information for Passengers and Crew Arriving Into the United States; Requirement for Passengers to Provide Designated Information. Traveler contact information is typically sent to CDC though an existing data-sharing infrastructure in place between the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and HHS/CDC and approved in OMB Control Number 0920-1354. Contact information for travelers who have been to an area affected by a disease outbreak during a specified time period prior to arrival in the U.S. will be confirmed at the port of entry. CDC will share traveler contact information for whom post-arrival monitoring is recommended with state and local health departments so that they can ensure public health follow-up is conducted, including but not limited to monitoring for disease symptoms, traveler education, and medical evaluation (if necessary).
This is a new information collection. Contact information is required if an individual seeks to travel by aircraft to the United States from an area affected by a disease outbreak. CDC is confirming travelers’ contact information, including phone numbers, during public health entry screening. By confirming travelers’ contact information at the port of entry, CDC aims to minimize nonresponses. If travelers do not respond to initial text messages, CDC will resend the message once. If the traveler does not respond after the message has been resent, CDC will send a daily list of all nonresponsive travelers to state and local health departments of jurisdiction.
For information requested from state and local health departments, CDC will send automated reminders state and local health departments to request completion of the online form.
This is a new information collection and no pre-tests are planned.
No statistical methods are used in this data collection. Descriptive analyses will be conducted to help CDC assess health departments’ efforts in traveler outreach, communication, and monitoring. Therefore, no individuals were consulted.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| Author | Samuel, Lee (CDC/OID/NCEZID) |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2025-12-12 |