Screenings spur chaos at airports
Chaos, cramped conditions at U.S. terminals
WASHINGTON • Airports across the U.S. were thrown into chaos on the weekend as workers scrambled to roll out the Trump administration’s hastily arranged health screenings for travellers returning from Europe.
Scores of anxious passengers said they encountered jam-packed terminals, long lines and hours of delays as they waited to be questioned by health authorities at some of the busiest travel hubs in the United States.
The administration announced the “enhanced entry screenings” Friday as part of a suite of travel restrictions and other strategies aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. Passengers on flights from more than two dozen countries in Europe are being routed through 13 U.S. airports, where workers are checking their medical histories, examining them for symptoms and instructing them to self-quarantine.
But shortly after taking effect, the measures designed to prevent new infections in the U.S. created the exact conditions that facilitate the spread of the highly contagious virus, with throngs of people standing shoulder to shoulder in bottlenecks that lasted late into the night.
“AT THIS MOMENT, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ARRIVING FROM NUMEROUS COUNTRIES ARE JAMMED TOGETHER IN A SINGLE SERPENTINE LINE VAGUELY SAID TO BE ‘FOR
SCREENING,’ ” read a tweet from Tracy Sefl, who wrote that she waited for several hours to be screened at Chicago’s O’hare International Airport.
“Authorities are going to have to deal with the ramifications of the breakdown of whatever this system is supposed to be,” she wrote. “Not to mention needless exposure risks from containing thousands of passengers like this.”
As confusion and anxiety spread, the airport situation threatened to deepen the coronavirus crisis for the Trump administration, which has struggled to mount a coherent response to the pandemic or convey a consistent message to the public about what the federal government is doing to mitigate the outbreak.
With limited testing available, officials said Sunday they have recorded nearly 3,000 cases and 62 deaths in the United States, up from 58 the previous day.
The scenes at the airports — captured in an outpouring of angry social media posts — resembled the chaotic implementation in early 2017 of President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, which triggered confusion and protests at U.S. airports as travellers from the Middle East were detained or sent back with almost no warning.
In a tweet posted after midnight — several hours after reports of clogged terminals started circulating — acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf acknowledged the backup and said the Department of Homeland Security was trying to add screening capacity and help airlines expedite the process.
“I understand this is very stressful,” Wolf said. “In these unprecedented times, we ask for your patience.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement Sunday that it “recognizes that the wait times experienced yesterday at some locations were unacceptable.”
“With this national emergency, there will unfortunately be times of disruption and increased processing times for travellers,” the statement said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker called the long lines “unacceptable” in a late-night tweet, saying the backups “need to be addressed immediately.”
Democratic Illinois Sen. Richard Durbin tweeted shortly after that he was in contact with Pritzker about delays for O’hare arrivals stretching up to eight hours.
“Admin was unprepared after Presidential ban on travel from Europe,” Durbin said.
Mark Morgan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, acknowledged the frustration over “longer than usual delays” but said in early-sunday tweets that “in several airports we’re seeing an immediate
PEOPLE ARRIVING FROM NUMEROUS COUNTRIES ARE JAMMED TOGETHER.
improvement.”
“We appreciate the patience of the travelling public as we deal with this unprecedented situation,” Morgan wrote. “We’re continuing to balance our efficiencies with ensuring the health and safety of all American citizens through enhanced medical screening . ... ”
At Dallas-fort Worth International Airport, travellers spent hours in the cramped terminal waiting to fill out questionnaires from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Travellers reported similar problems at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.