Harsh criticism rained on the Trump administration Sunday from state and local officials over long lines at some US airports, potentially turning returning international passengers into coronavirus carriers as they tried to get home.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, lambasted the administration for allowing about 3,000 Americans returning from Europe to be stuck for hours inside the customs area at O’Hare International Airport on Saturday, violating federal recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people practice “social distance.”
Pritzker told ABC’s “This Week” that the federal government should have known when Donald Trump “gave the orders that European travel back to the US was going to be cut off, that there would be influx of people.”
He said authorities should have increased the Customs and Border Patrol numbers and medical workers at airports like Chicago’s O’Hare but “they did neither of those.” He said the packed crowds of people are “exactly what you don’t want in this pandemic.”
The Governor said the only communications he has received was a call from a White House staffer “who yelled at me” for pointing the problem out to Trump in a tweet
The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport’s Twitter account responded to passengers who raised concerns about the cramped conditions, saying that its customer experience team was taking “extra precautions” and that hand sanitizer was available in all terminals.
The passengers, many of them rushing home because of fears they would be stuck in Europe, were screened by federal customs and homeland security agents for coronavirus symptoms before they were allowed to leave the airport.
Long lines also formed Saturday in Boston, Dallas and others of the 13 airports that are accepting return flights from Europe. Conditions were better Sunday, but lines could again grow as the day progresses and more flights arrive.
“People were forced into conditions that are against CDC guidance and are totally unacceptable,” Lightfoot said.
Lightfoot singled out Vice-President Mike Pence and his coronavirus task force for not talking with local officials before implementing the screening program. State and local officials could have offered “concrete suggestions” for how the program could have been implemented with the least disruption, she said, but the administration acted unilaterally.
“Thousands of travellers were forced to wait in exceedingly long lines, congregating in concourses and putting themselves and their loved ones at greater risk of exposure,” Lightfoot said. Passengers Sunday will likely be kept on their planes to manage the flow into the customs area, she said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican and strong supporter of the president, tweeted Sunday that the lines in Dallas are “unacceptable & I’m working hard to get it fixed.” He said he had contacted the head of Homeland Security, acting Secretary Chad Wolf.
Not every US airport accepting European arrivals experienced overcrowding. Airports serving Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey, reported short lines at customs Saturday and Sunday.
Pritzker said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the administration should have bolstered staffing at the receiving airports in anticipation of long lines. But instead, he said, passengers “were stuck in a small area, hundreds and hundreds of people, and that’s exactly what you don’t want in this pandemic.”
He predicted Sunday would “be even worse.”
Donald Trump defended the administration’s actions in a tweet Sunday.
“We are doing very precise Medical Screenings at our airports. Pardon the interruptions and delays, we are moving as quickly as possible, but it is very important that we be vigilant and careful. We must get it right. Safety first!” he wrote.
Acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said in a written statement Sunday that the agency is making improvements to its procedures, but that it must “balance our efficiencies with ensuring the health and safety of all American citizens through enhanced medical screening.”
Elizabeth Pulvermacher, a University of Wisconsin student, arrived Saturday at O’Hare from Madrid, where she had been studying. The customs process made her feel “unsafe,” she said.
“The whole idea is getting rid of the spread of coronavirus, but there were hundreds and hundreds of people in very close proximity,” Pulvermacher said.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, said Sunday that the airport crowds could spread the disease, but that they are likely to continue. Americans must understand that there is no need to rush back from Europe, he said, but “when people see a travel ban, they immediately want to hunker and get home.”
“Hopefully we don’t have more of that, but I think we probably unfortunately will,” he said.
Stop doing that!
Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said that he’s “working on” getting Trump to greet people he meets with elbow bumps instead of handshakes as the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the globe.
Trump, a self-described germaphobe, avoided handshakes before jumping into politics in 2015. The president said he’s now having trouble giving up the instinctive “habit” of shaking hands.
The chief of the World Health Organization, meanwhile, says that even elbow bumps bring people too close together and really, given that we are now sneezing into crooked elbows – how is this at all hygienic or safe.
Surely an Indian Namaste, or a Japanese style bow, is infinitely preferential.