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Virus screenings jam US airports

Published:Sunday | March 15, 2020 | 11:09 AM
In this photo provided by Austin Boschen, people wait in line to go through the customs at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, Saturday, March 14, 2020. International travelers reported long lines at the customs at the airport Saturday as staff took extra precautions to guard against the new coronavirus, The Dallas Morning News reports. Boschen said it took him at least 4 hours to go through the customs. (Austin Boschen via AP)

Long lines and hours-long waits for required medical screenings greeted weary travellers returning to some U.S. airports amid coronavirus-related travel restrictions.

The dense crowds Saturday at some of the 13 airports where travellers from Europe are being funneled — among the busiest across the country — formed even as public health officials called for “social distancing” to stem the spread of the pandemic.

Lines appeared to be shorter Sunday morning at the affected airports, but more flights had yet to arrive.

Austin Boschen was returning from a spring break trip to Jalisco, Mexico, with his girlfriend and described the situation Saturday at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as “atrocious, no semblance of a line beyond the barriers and no officials or staff around to direct.”

The lines led Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to tweet at President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, noting that the customs process is under federal jurisdiction and demanding they take action to address the crowds.

His concerns were echoed on Twitter by Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, fellow Democrats.

The Trump administration should have bolstered staffing at the receiving airports in anticipation of long lines, Pritzker said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” but instead passengers “were flooding into O’Hare Airport, they were stuck in a small area, hundreds and hundreds of people, and that’s exactly what you don’t want in this pandemic.”

While U.S. citizens, green card holders and some others are allowed to return home, travelers from Europe are being funneled to the 13 airports where they are subject to health screenings and quarantine orders.

Packing travellers into narrow hallways and long lines will elevate their risk of exposure. Some experts have questioned the effectiveness of travel restrictions because of the heavy volume of global travel.

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