What are the new passenger health screenings like at Miami’s airport? See how they work

Michelle Marchante
·4 min read
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As Julie Huellmantel walks out of Customs at Miami International Airport, she’s approached by a masked worker in blue scrubs.

Bio surveillance specialist Talia Estevez asks if she would like to get tested and answer some questions to help with a public health program run by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Huellmantel pauses. Should she say yes? She has another flight to catch.

The CDC program, the worker tells her, is to help track COVID-19 variants and other infectious diseases that could be coming into the country. The survey and nose-swabbing will only take a few minutes to complete, is voluntary and anonymous.

Huellmantel agrees, and after answering a few travel-related questions on the tablet is taken to a nearby table, where she’s given a nose swab. The workers instruct her to twirl the swab in each nostril and then they give her another swab to do the same thing.

It takes less then five minutes. Workers thank her for participating and give her a free COVID-19 at-home test kit for her time.

Bio surveillance specialist Talia Estevez assists traveler Julie Huellmantel arriving from Cuba before she swabs her nose for a voluntary test as some travelers flying into Miami from other countries are being asked to do a nose swab to test for COVID variants and other contagious viruses as part of a nationwide effort to track new and emerging infectious diseases, on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

Huellmantel, who had just arrived to Miami Thursday from Cuba and was on her way to catch a connecting flight back home to Detroit, told the Miami Herald she agreed to the nose-swabbing because she had time to spare and “it’s a good thing for public health.”

She’s one of more than 180 passengers who agreed to undergo the voluntary testing that began Tuesday inside Miami’s Terminal D, the home of American Airlines. The major airline operates about 70% of MIA’s flights to 80 international destinations.

The CDC’s traveler-based genomic surveillance program, which launched in September 2021 during the COVID pandemic, has collected samples from more than 475,000 travelers coming off flights from more than 135 countries. It expanded earlier this week to the Miami airport, which sees more than 21 million international travelers a year. Other major airports in the country are also enrolled in the program, including in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

Helping the mission of public health is the same reason why Carlos Avila, who lives in Barbados and came to Miami for work and to visit family, and Bertrand Guenot, who arrived from the Bahamas and was “not in a hurry” for his connecting flight back home to France, said they decided to get tested.

“I think it’s important in healthcare to be able to help whenever on your small level,” said Guenot, noting that he was glad to help public health officials gather data to be better prepared for any possible future outbreaks.

Traveler Bertrand Guenot arriving from the Bahamas on his way to Paris swabs his nose for a voluntary test as some travelers flying into Miami from other countries are being asked to do a nose swab to test for COVID variants and other contagious viruses as part of a nationwide effort to track new and emerging infectious diseases, on Thursday, March 14, 2024.

Why is the CDC offering voluntary testing at MIA?

The CDC’s goal is to test travelers 18 and older to help public health officials get a better grip on what germs are coming into the U.S. so they can make more informed public health decisions.

“The program serves as an early detection system providing genomic sequencing data in near real-time while addressing gaps in global surveillance, especially when testing and sequencing information are limited,” said the CDC’s Dr. Allison Taylor Walker in an emailed statement to the Miami Herald.

“Miami will result in the collection of more data from around the world, and particularly from the Southern Hemisphere,” Walker added, including Central and South America.

At the moment, the CDC is testing Miami airport travelers for COVID, but will eventually expand the testing to include flu and RSV.

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But don’t confuse this with the Miami airport COVID-testing sites travelers frequented during the pandemic. Travelers who agree to the nasal-swabbing won’t be told their results, the CDC says. However, they will get a free COVID at-home test kit.

On Thursday afternoon, workers received a steady flow of volunteers who were leaving Concourse D’s Customs station, the busiest in the country. While some travelers declined to participate in the testing, others, like Ana Lidia Luján Leon from Miami, who had just arrived from visiting family in Cuba, said it was a no-brainer to participate.

“Shortly after I moved to Miami, I was given the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for free and I was very appreciative of that so how could I not collaborate?” Luján Leon, who has lived in Miami for over a year, told the Miami Herald in Spanish.

Bio surveillance specialist Talia Estevez assists traveler Ana Lidia Lujan arriving from Cuba as she swabs her nose for a voluntary test as some travelers flying into Miami from other countries are being asked to do a nose swab to test for COVID variants and other contagious viruses as part of a nationwide effort to track new and emerging infectious diseases, on Thursday, March 14, 2024.