An elderly Moroccan man wearing a protective mask looks on after being stopped from traveling out of the Spanish city of Algeciras by sea amid lockdown measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Marcos Moreno/AFP/Getty Images
The numbers: The coronavirus has killed more than 6,500 worldwide, and infected over 169,000, according to an estimate from Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases reported by the WHO and additional sources.
More cases outside China than inside: Mainland China reported 16 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 14 new deaths as of Sunday, bringing the country's total number of cases to 80,860. There are now more cases outside of mainland China than there are inside. Thirteen provinces no longer have active confirmed cases being treated state broadcaster CCTV reported. However, Wuhan -- ground zero for the outbreak -- warned it is still facing a "severe" epidemic, amid a continuation of locally transmitted cases.
French measures: More than half of France's 300 coronavirus patients in intensive care are under the age of 60, according to the head of the country's national health agency. France has closed restaurants, cafes, cinemas and clubs, and issued a ban on large gatherings to contain the spread.
Italy cases spike: Italy on Sunday announced 368 new fatalities in just 24 hours, bringing the total death toll in the country to 1,809. The total number of cases there reached 24,747, with an increase of 3,590 new cases recorded in 24 hours, according to the country's Civil Protection Department.
Germany closes borders: Germany closed its borders with several of its neighbors and those who want to cross the border with Austria, Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Denmark, need a good reason to do so. Goods and commuters are exempt.
Stranded cruise ship: Cuba has offered to receive the MS Braemar, which has been searching for somewhere to dock after it was refused entry at several Caribbean ports. There are five confirmed coronavirus cases onboard and a further 20 passengers and 20 crew members are in isolation.
US cases rise: There are at least 3,485 cases in the US and a total of 65 deaths have been reported. US Vice President Mike Pence said new guidelines will be released Monday regarding potential curfews or closures of locations such as restaurants. Several US states and cities have already announced widespread mandatory closures as part of attempts to curb the spread of the virus.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approaches the podium to give a speech from his Jerusalem office on Saturday, saying Israel's restaurants and places of entertainment will be closed to stop the spread of the coronavirus. He also encouraged people not to go to their workplaces unless absolutely necessary.
Gali Tibbon/AP
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Gali Tibbon/AP
In a setback for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's president said Sunday he will give centrist retired army general Benny Gantz the first chance to try to form a new government following this month's inconclusive elections.
Gantz was tapped after a majority of 61 lawmakers in the 120-member Parliament told President Reuven Rivlin they support Gantz over Netanyahu. A coalition of Arab parties, including a staunchly Palestinian nationalist faction, decisively helped tip the scales by unanimously endorsing Gantz.
This does not mean Gantz will automatically become Israel's next prime minister, but it gives him 42 days to try to form a government. More immediately, it gives him the upper hand in Parliament, as his party considers advancing legislation barring Netanyahu from forming a new government due to a corruption indictment against him.
Netanyahu argues that the challenge of coronavirus means he should remain in office. In a tweet,he offered Gantz two options to break the political deadlock in Israel: joining a six-month emergency government with Netanyahu at the head, or a unity government that would allow Netanyahu to serve as prime minister for two more years before Gantz takes over.
מול מצב החירום העולמי והלאומי, אנחנו חייבים לאחד כוחות ולהקים ממשלה חזקה ויציבה שתוכל להעביר תקציב ולקבל החלטות קשות.
שבתי והעברתי הבוקר הצעה ליו״ר כחול לבן בני גנץ ולחבריו להצטרף לממשלת חירום לאומית בראשותי
Gantz could unseat Netanyahu by building a minority government dependent on Arab parties, but it would be an unstable coalition and would draw fierce opposition from the right-wing Netanyahu, who calls the Arab parties terror sympathizers.
"While Prime Minister Netanyahu is handling an unprecedented global and national crisis in the most responsible and measured way," Netanyahu's Likud party said in a statement, "Gantz is rushing to a minority government dependent on ... terror supporters instead of joining a national emergency government that will save lives."
About 20% of Israel's population comprise Palestinian Arab citizens inside the country's borders.
This month's inconclusive elections left Netanyahu's political future uncertain, but the coronavirus crisis offered some relief to Netanyahu on Sunday: his corruption trial was postponed due to emergency measures taken in response to coronavirus, drawing accusations from Netanyahu's rivals that he is extracting personal and political gain from the health crisis.
Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust for his dealings with media moguls. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for the opening hearing of his trial, but a panel of judges delayed it to May 24, citing a state of emergency declared by the caretaker justice minister.
Justice Minister Amir Ohana, a Netanyahu loyalist, claimed no political interference. Emanuel Gross, professor emeritus of law at Haifa University in Israel, said in an interview with NPR that he believed coronavirus concerns were a legitimate reason to delay the trial.
But critics raised eyebrows as the justice minister last week expanded his powers enabling him to freeze the courts due to a health crisis, then around 1 a.m. Sunday issued a freeze on non-urgent court hearings for 24 hours, which is liable to be extended.
"The delay of the trial at this time does not hurt Benjamin Netanyahu, and the rest you can understand yourself," wrote former state prosecutor Eran Shender in an op-ed.
The delay in Netanyahu's hearing followed new restrictions Netanyahu enacted to combat the spread of coronavirus, banning gatherings of more than 10 people and closing schools, restaurants, malls, movie theaters, gyms and other non-essential public venues. Israel is also banning entry to most foreign visitors and has ordered some 30,000 Israelis into home quarantine. There are around 200 coronavirus cases in the country, most of them mild.
Netanyahu came under additional criticism for seeking to use surveillance technology to track virus carriers, a move that would impinge on Israelis' privacy. The government on Sunday approved tracking Israeli coronavirus carriers' cellphones to determine who they may have come in contact with. "We are in the midst of an emergency, but this doesn't mean that turning Israel into a surveillance state is justified," said Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler of the non-partisan Israel Democracy Institute.
Gantz on Sunday appeared unwilling to give Netanyahu a lifeline to stay in office.
"Netanyahu, don't try to manipulate the citizens of Israel," Gantz tweeted. "If you're interested in unity, why postpone your trial at 1 a.m. and send an 'emergency unity' outline to the press."
Moshe Yaalon, Netanyahu's former defense minister turned political rival in Gantz's Blue and White coalition, accused Netanyahu of "cynically taking advantage of the corona crisis for personal political needs of a defendant before trial."
In a separate tweet, Yaalon wrote, "Blue and White cannot be a partner to the destruction of democracy in our country by a defendant fleeing trial."
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 United States created the exact conditions that facilitate the spread of the highly contagious virus, with throngs of people standing shoulder to shoulder in bottlenecks.
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.
“Last night we saw [passenger] safety and security was seriously compromised and people were forced into conditions that are against CDC guidelines and totally unacceptable,” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a news conference at the city’s O’Hare International Airport Sunday.
Without better communication, she warned, “you’re going to see more disasters like last night that are solely the responsibility of the federal government not listening.”
It did not help that the president’s error-filled Wednesday address announcing the sweeping new travel ban, soon to expand to the United Kingdom and Ireland, left many rushing to fly home immediately. Officials hurried to correct the president’s statement that “all travel” from Europe would grind to a halt, but the weekend mayhem spurred another scramble.
District resident Nik Kowsar, 50, said he was supposed to return home Tuesday from London but moved up his flight last night after seeing photos of passengers stuck in hours-long delays at O’Hare Saturday as they awaited screening.
There were not many empty seats, he said: “So many other people made that decision as well.”
The scenes at the airports — captured in an outpouring of angry social media posts — resembled the chaotic implementation in early 2017 of President Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, which triggered confusion and protests at U.S. airports as travelers 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 travelers,” the statement said.
But lawmakers were sharply critical. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) called the long lines “unacceptable” in a late-night tweet, saying the backups “need to be addressed immediately.” Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) tweeted of delays stretching up to eight hours, writing, “Admin was unprepared after Presidential ban on travel from Europe." Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Sunday wrote a letter to top officials at U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the CDC asking what authorities are doing to “prevent the spread of this dysfunction.”
The crowds & lines O’Hare are unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately.@realDonaldTrump@VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to—you need to do something NOW.
These crowds are waiting to get through customs which is under federal jurisdiction
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 improvement.”
“We appreciate the patience of the traveling 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. … Nothing is more important than the safety, health and security of our citizens.”
Kowsar, the District resident who rushed home from London, said he was surprised the only question he encountered while passing through customs at Dulles International Airport was, “Do you have any health conditions to declare?”
“I thought they were going to be screening everyone and checking temperatures,” Kowsar said.
He and other passengers from the London flight said they didn’t encounter any longer than usual delays at customs. But a dozen flights from Europe and the United Kingdom are scheduled to arrive at Dulles after 3 p.m., when delays are more likely to occur.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, travelers spent hours in the cramped terminal waiting to fill out questionnaires from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dorothy Lowe of Longview, Tex., said she stood in a customs line from 4 p.m. until after 7 p.m. Saturday after returning from a trip to Mexico.
“We’re all being herded in the same line standing side by side,” Lowe told WFAA-TV. “I’m less concerned about having to stand here for the amount of time that I am and more concerned about where the people are traveling from that are around me and what they may or may not have been exposed to.”
Travelers reported similar problems at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Just waiting in a very long line with thousands of people to clear Customs at JFK T4,” one user wrote on Twitter. “Not sure who’s really taking things seriously.”
As the delays stretched into the night, airports asked passengers to stay calm.
“We ask for your patience as CBP/CDC agents are conducting enhanced screening for passengers, which may cause additional delays,” the DFW Airport said in a statement Saturday night. “These measures are important for the health and safety of all.”
“Thank you for yr patience,” O’Hare tweeted to one person describing a six-hour wait for bags followed by several hours more in “shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.” The airport acknowledged customs was “taking longer than usual” because of the enhanced screenings.
“We’ve strongly encouraged our federal partners to increase staffing to meet demand,” O’Hare said.
The travel restrictions that spurred the new screening measures are set to broaden. The United States will also be banning travel from the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning Monday night at midnight, officials said, bringing the total number of U.S.-travel-restricted countries in Europe to 28.
At Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Sunday, about one-third of travelers emerging from the customs area wore masks or had them strapped around their necks.
Jana Asher, a contractor for the United Nations returning home to western Pennsylvania from South Sudan, said she was surprised that the immigration line for U.S. citizens was longer than the one for noncitizens. She said she was traveling home via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as scheduled but had spoken with several other American passengers who had stepped up their flights after Trump announced the restrictions on travelers from Europe.
Asher, a statistics professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, said she plans to continue wearing a bandanna over her mouth and nose for the next 14 days to protect others in case she was exposed to the coronavirus during her international travel. One positive note: Because coronavirus is just hitting Africa, hand sanitizer there was still in ample supply, so she brought plenty home.
“I didn’t bring home toilet paper,” she said with a smile, “because it would be impossible to pack.”
Nick Miroff and Hannah Natanson contributed to this report.
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 United States 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.
The scenes at the airports — captured in an outpouring of angry social media posts — resembled the chaotic implementation in early 2017 of President Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, which triggered confusion and protests at U.S. airports as travelers 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 travelers,” the statement said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) called the long lines “unacceptable” in a late-night tweet, saying the backups “need to be addressed immediately.”
The crowds & lines O’Hare are unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately.@realDonaldTrump@VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to—you need to do something NOW.
These crowds are waiting to get through customs which is under federal jurisdiction
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) 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 improvement.”
“We appreciate the patience of the traveling 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. … Nothing is more important than the safety, health and security of our citizens.”
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, travelers spent hours in the cramped terminal waiting to fill out questionnaires from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dorothy Lowe of Longview, Tex., said she stood in a customs line from 4 p.m. until after 7 p.m. Saturday after returning from a trip to Mexico.
“We’re all being herded in the same line standing side by side,” Lowe told WFAA-TV. “I’m less concerned about having to stand here for the amount of time that I am and more concerned about where the people are traveling from that are around me and what they may or may not have been exposed to.”
Travelers reported similar problems at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Just waiting in a very long line with thousands of people to clear Customs at JFK T4,” one user wrote on Twitter. “Not sure who’s really taking things seriously.”
As the delays stretched into the night, airports asked passengers to stay calm.
“We ask for your patience as CBP/CDC agents are conducting enhanced screening for passengers, which may cause additional delays,” the DFW Airport said in a statement Saturday night. “These measures are important for the health and safety of all.”
“Thank you for yr patience,” O’Hare tweeted to one person describing a six-hour wait for bags followed by several hours more in “shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.” The airport acknowledged customs was “taking longer than usual” because of the enhanced screenings.
“We’ve strongly encouraged our federal partners to increase staffing to meet demand,” O’Hare said.
The travel restrictions that spurred the new screening measures are set to broaden. The United States will also be banning travel from the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning Monday night at midnight, officials said, bringing the total number of U.S.-travel-restricted countries in Europe to 28.
At Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Sunday, about one-third of travelers emerging from the customs area wore masks or had them strapped around their necks.
Jana Asher, a contractor for the United Nations returning home to western Pennsylvania from South Sudan, said she was surprised that the immigration line for U.S. citizens was longer than the one for noncitizens. She said she was traveling home via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as scheduled but had spoken with several other American passengers who had stepped up their flights after Trump announced the restrictions on travelers from Europe.
Asher, a statistics professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, said she plans to continue wearing a bandanna over her mouth and nose for the next 14 days to protect others in case she was exposed to the coronavirus during her international travel. One positive note: Because coronavirus is just hitting Africa, hand sanitizer there was still in ample supply, so she brought plenty home.
“I didn’t bring home toilet paper,” she said with a smile, “because it would be impossible to pack.”
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 United States 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.
The scenes at the airports — captured in an outpouring of angry social media posts — resembled the chaotic implementation in early 2017 of President Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, which triggered confusion and protests at U.S. airports as travelers 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 travelers,” the statement said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) called the long lines “unacceptable” in a late-night tweet, saying the backups “need to be addressed immediately.”
The crowds & lines O’Hare are unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately.@realDonaldTrump@VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to—you need to do something NOW.
These crowds are waiting to get through customs which is under federal jurisdiction
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) 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 improvement.”
“We appreciate the patience of the traveling 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. … Nothing is more important than the safety, health and security of our citizens.”
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, travelers spent hours in the cramped terminal waiting to fill out questionnaires from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dorothy Lowe of Longview, Tex., said she stood in a customs line from 4 p.m. until after 7 p.m. Saturday after returning from a trip to Mexico.
“We’re all being herded in the same line standing side by side,” Lowe told WFAA-TV. “I’m less concerned about having to stand here for the amount of time that I am and more concerned about where the people are traveling from that are around me and what they may or may not have been exposed to.”
Travelers reported similar problems at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Just waiting in a very long line with thousands of people to clear Customs at JFK T4,” one user wrote on Twitter. “Not sure who’s really taking things seriously.”
As the delays stretched into the night, airports asked passengers to stay calm.
“We ask for your patience as CBP/CDC agents are conducting enhanced screening for passengers, which may cause additional delays,” the DFW Airport said in a statement Saturday night. “These measures are important for the health and safety of all.”
“Thank you for yr patience,” O’Hare tweeted to one person describing a six-hour wait for bags followed by several hours more in “shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.” The airport acknowledged customs was “taking longer than usual” because of the enhanced screenings.
“We’ve strongly encouraged our federal partners to increase staffing to meet demand,” O’Hare said.
The travel restrictions that spurred the new screening measures are set to broaden. The United States will also be banning travel from the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning Monday night at midnight, officials said, bringing the total number of U.S.-travel-restricted countries in Europe to 28.
At Dulles International Airport outside Washington on Sunday, about one-third of travelers emerging from the customs area wore masks or had them strapped around their necks.
Jana Asher, a contractor for the United Nations returning home to western Pennsylvania from South Sudan, said she was surprised that the immigration line for U.S. citizens was longer than the one for noncitizens. She said she was traveling home via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as scheduled but had spoken with several other American passengers who had stepped up their flights after Trump announced the restrictions on travelers from Europe.
Asher, a statistics professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, said she plans to continue wearing a bandanna over her mouth and nose for the next 14 days to protect others in case she was exposed to the coronavirus during her international travel. One positive note: Because coronavirus is just hitting Africa, hand sanitizer there was still in ample supply, so she brought plenty home.
“I didn’t bring home toilet paper,” she said with a smile, “because it would be impossible to pack.”
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 United States 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.
The scenes at the airports — captured in an outpouring of angry social media posts — resembled the botched implementation in early 2017 of President Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens from predominantly Muslim countries, which triggered chaos and protests at U.S. airports as travelers 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. In these unprecedented times, we ask for your patience,” Wolf said.
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 travelers,” 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.”
The crowds & lines O’Hare are unacceptable & need to be addressed immediately.@realDonaldTrump@VP since this is the only communication medium you pay attention to—you need to do something NOW.
These crowds are waiting to get through customs which is under federal jurisdiction
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) 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 improvement.”
“We appreciate the patience of the traveling 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. … Nothing is more important than the safety, health and security of our citizens.”
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, travelers spent hours in the cramped terminal waiting to fill out questionnaires from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dorothy Lowe, of Longview, Tex., said she stood in a customs line from 4 p.m. until after 7 p.m. Saturday after returning from a trip to Mexico.
“We’re all being herded in the same line standing side-by-side,” Lowe told WFAA. “I’m less concerned about having to stand here for the amount of time that I am, and more concerned about where the people are traveling from that are around me and what they may or may not have been exposed to.”
Travelers reported similar problems at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Just waiting in a very long line with thousands of people to clear Customs at JFK T4,” one user wrote on Twitter. “Not sure who’s really taking things seriously.”
As the delays stretched into the night, airports asked passengers to stay calm.
“We ask for your patience as CBP/CDC agents are conducting enhanced screening for passengers, which may cause additional delays,” the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport said in a Saturday night statement. “These measures are important for the health and safety of all.”
“Thank you for yr patience,” O’Hare tweeted to one person describing a six-hour wait for bags followed by several hours more in “shoulder-to-shoulder crowds.” The airport acknowledged customs is “taking longer than usual” because of the enhanced screenings.
“We’ve strongly encouraged our federal partners to increase staffing to meet demand,” O’Hare said.
The travel restrictions that spurred the new screening measures are set to broaden. The United States will also be banning travel from the United Kingdom and Ireland beginning Monday at midnight, officials said, bringing the total number of U.S. travel-restricted countries in Europe to 28.
At Dulles International Airport on Sunday, about one-third of travelers emerging from the customs area wore masks or had them strapped around their necks.
Jana Asher, a contractor for the United Nations returning home to western Pennsylvania from South Sudan, said she was surprised that the immigration line for U.S. citizens was longer than the one for noncitizens. She said she was traveling home via Addis Ababa on schedule but had spoken with several other American passengers who had stepped up their flights after Trump announced the restrictions on travelers from Europe.
Asher, a statistics professor at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, said she plans to continue wearing a bandanna over her mouth and nose for the next 14 days to protect others in case she was exposed to the coronavirus during her international travel. One perk: Because coronavirus is just hitting Africa, hand sanitizer there was still in ample supply, so she brought plenty home.
“I didn’t bring home toilet paper,” she said with a smile, “because it would be impossible to pack.”
A firefighter disinfects a public square against coronavirus in Tehran, Iran, on March 13, 2020. | Vahid Salemi/AP Photo
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s official leading the response to the worst coronavirus outbreak in the Middle East on Sunday acknowledged that the pandemic could overwhelm health facilities in the country, which is under severe U.S. sanctions.
Muslim authorities, meanwhile, announced that the Al-Aqsa mosque in east Jerusalem, the third holiest site in Islam, would be closed indefinitely due to concerns about the outbreak, with prayers continuing to be held on the sprawling esplanade outside.
Similar measures have been taken at the nearby Western Wall, the holiest place where Jews can pray, where outdoor prayers continue but only 10 people at a time are permitted in enclosed areas, in keeping with measures taken by the Israeli government.
Iran is battling one of the worst outbreaks outside China. On Sunday the Health Ministry reported 113 more deaths, bringing the country’s death toll to 724 amid 13,938 confirmed cases. The real number of infections could be even higher, as questions have been raised about the government’s transparency.
“If the trend continues, there will not be enough capacity,” Ali Reza Zali, who is leading the campaign against the outbreak, was quoted as saying earlier by the state-run IRNA news agency.
Iran is believed to have around 110,000 hospital beds, including 30,000 in the capital, Tehran. Authorities have pledged to set up mobile clinics as needed.
Zali also acknowledged that “many” of those who have died from the COVID-19 illness caused by the virus were otherwise healthy, a rare admission by local authorities that the virus does not only prey on the sick and elderly.
Health Ministry figures show that while 55% of fatalities were in their 60s, some 15% were younger than 40.
For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Most people recover in a matter of weeks.
The virus has infected more than 150,000 people worldwide and killed more than 5,800. More than 70,000 people worldwide have recovered after being infected.
In Iran, the virus has infected a number of senior officials, including the senior vice president, Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, Revolutionary Guard members and Health Ministry officials.
Authorities have nevertheless been slow to adopt measures taken by other hard-hit countries. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday ruled out a general quarantine and said the government was working to keep the borders open.
Dalia Samhouri, a senior regional official with the World Health Organization, said both Iran and Egypt, two of the most populous countries in the Middle East, were likely underreporting cases because of the nature of the virus, which can be spread by individuals who show no visible symptoms.
“We can easily say that the current figures are an underestimation of the actual figures,” she said.
Iran has struggled to respond in part because of crippling sanctions imposed by the Trump administration after the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal. The U.S. says it has offered humanitarian aid but that Iran has rejected it.
Countries across the Middle East have imposed sweeping travel restrictions, canceled public events and in some cases called on non-essential businesses to close for the coming weeks.
In the skyscraper-studded city of Dubai, a global business and travel hub in the United Arab Emirates, authorities announced on Sunday that all movie theaters, arcades and gyms would be closed through the end of the month.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, also shut down its amusement parks and museums through the end of the month, including Louvre Abu Dhabi.
The UAE’s central bank meanwhile announced a $27 billion stimulus package directed at supporting banks and said regulatory limits on loans will be eased. Saudi Arabia announced its own $13 billion stimulus plan.
Al-Aqsa is the latest in a series of religious sites where access has been halted or strictly limited. Saudi Arabia has halted the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina and could be forced to limit or cancel the much larger haj later this year. On Sunday, it announced the temporary closure of all mosques and called off Friday prayers.
Sheikh Omar Kiswani, the director of the Al-Aqsa mosque, said Sunday that the closure of the mosque and other buildings on the compound, including the iconic golden Dome of the Rock, would continue indefinitely.
The religious site is also the holiest in Judaism because it was the location of the two Jewish temples in antiquity. Israel occupied and annexed east Jerusalem in the 1967 war in a move not recognized internationally. The Palestinians want east Jerusalem to be the capital of their future state, and the religious site has often been a flashpoint in the decades-long conflict.
Israel imposed sweeping travel and quarantine measures more than a week ago but has seen its number of confirmed cases double in recent days, to around 200. On Saturday, the government said restaurants, malls, movies, gyms and daycare centers would close. Schools and universities have already been shut down until next month.
Netanyahu has meanwhile been pressing for an emergency unity government with his main rival, former military chief Benny Gantz, following three inconclusive elections and more than a year of political deadlock. Gantz has appeared open to the idea.
Jordan, which had previously reported just one infection in a man who later recovered, confirmed six new cases. Four are French tourists while the other two are Jordanians, Health Minister Saad Jaber said Sunday.
Jordan has suspended all flights into and out of the kingdom except for aid workers and diplomats, and has closed schools for two weeks. It has also banned the smoking of hookahs, or water pipes, in cafes.
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