High-risk US International Travelers Seeking Pretravel Consultation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emily P Hyle; Mylinh H Le; Sowmya R Rao; Nora M Mulroy; Allison T Walker; Edward T Ryan; Regina C LaRocque

doi:10.1093/ofid/ofac399

High-risk US International Travelers Seeking Pretravel Consultation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Open Forum Infect Dis. 2022 Aug 3;9(8):ofac399. doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac399. eCollection 2022 Aug.

Authors

Emily P Hyle¹, Mylinh H Le¹, Sowmya R Rao², Nora M Mulroy¹, Allison T Walker³, Edward T Ryan⁴, Regina C LaRocque⁴

Affiliations

¹ Medical Practice Evaluation Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
² Department of Global Health, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
³ Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
⁴ Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Abstract

Background: To assess the implications of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related travel disruptions, we compared demographics and travel-related circumstances of US travelers seeking pretravel consultation regarding international travel at US Global TravEpiNet (GTEN) sites before and after the initiation of COVID-19 travel warnings.

Methods: We analyzed data in the GTEN database regarding traveler demographics and travel-related circumstances with standard questionnaires in the pre-COVID-19 period (January-December 2019) and the COVID-19 period (April 2020-March 2021), excluding travelers from January to March 2020. We conducted descriptive analyses of differences in demographics, travel-related circumstances, routine and travel-related vaccinations, and medications.

Results: Compared with 16 903 consultations in the pre-COVID-19 period, only 1564 consultations were recorded at GTEN sites during the COVID-19 period (90% reduction), with a greater proportion of travelers visiting friends and relatives (501/1564 [32%] vs 1525/16 903 [9%]), individuals traveling for >28 days (824/1564 [53%] vs 2522/16 903 [15%]), young children (6 mo-<6 y: 168/1564 [11%] vs 500/16 903 [3%]), and individuals traveling to Africa (1084/1564 [69%] vs 8049/16 903 [48%]). A smaller percentage of vaccine-eligible travelers received vaccines at pretravel consultations during the COVID-19 period than before, except for yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis vaccinations.

Conclusions: Compared with the pre-COVID-19 period, a greater proportion of travelers during the COVID-19 period were young children, were planning to visit friends and relatives, were traveling for >28 days, or were traveling to Africa, which are circumstances that contribute to high risk for travel-related infections. Fewer vaccine-eligible travelers were administered travel-related vaccines at pretravel consultations. Counseling and vaccination focused on high-risk international travelers must be prioritized during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Keywords: COVID-19; global travEpiNet; international travel.

Abstract

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