Logjams, frustration
Expanded screening: Returning Americans face hourslong lines Federal Reserve acts: Benchmark interest rate is slashed to zero Long road home from Europe: ‘I haven’t slept in a couple days’
Although conditions were improving, many U.S. travelers flying back from Europe were greeted with snaking lines and hours-long waits at major airports as expanded coronavirus screenings required by the government’s new European travel restrictions took effect this weekend.
With the U.S. death toll at 62 across 12 states, health officials pledged to ramp up coronavirus testing by tens of thousands beginning this week. Adm. Brett P. Giroir, assistant secretary of health at Department of Health and Human Services, said federal health care workers and gear would begin to ship out Monday, describing the “new phase of testing” as a “game-changer for us.” About 2,000 labs are expected to come online across the nation to process tests, he said.
President Donald Trump encouraged Americans
to “relax” as grocery stores ran short on supplies Sunday and bars and restaurants began shortening hours or closing altogether. Also Sunday, New York City Public Schools, the largest district in the country, announced it would begin to shut down this week in an attempt to combat the spread of the virus.
At 13 U.S. airports, hourslong waits unfolded after restrictions banned Europeans from flying to the United States for 30 days and required U.S. travelers to be screened upon arrival.
Travelers at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, New York JFK and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport took to social media to complain about the waits, with many worried that the logjam wasn’t helping stop the spread of the coronavirus.
College student Brandon Mach, who was flying back Saturday from Madrid, said he waited more than four hours to clear U.S. Customs and Border Protection and go through Centers for Disease Control and Prevention screening at O’Hare. The Michigan resident said he landed at 4 p.m. and didn’t leave until nearly 9 p.m., until his temperature was checked and he was asked a few questions.
“What better way to ‘avoid large gatherings,’ ” he tweeted.
Mach, 20, told USA TODAY he had to go through customs twice, a second time after he told officials he was returning from Spain. The country went on lockdown Saturday as the result of a surge in coronavirus cases.
“That was by far one of the craziest things I’ve seen at an airport,” he said.
At the Atlanta airport, travelers landing from Paris on Sunday afternoon reported a smooth screening process that took about 30 minutes. Travelers said they received a health questionnaire at the beginning of the flight. When they arrived in Atlanta, airport officials deboarded passengers in sections and did visual checks for coronavirus symptoms as they walked through customs, travelers said.
Maddie Turner, who was studying abroad in Paris, said she was relieved to get through customs quickly after hearing about long waits elsewhere.
“I haven’t slept in a couple days,” said Turner, 21. “I’m looking forward to my heart rate going back down.”