The attempt to keep the virus out of the country exposed thousands to infection as they crossed the Atlantic and came after U.S. cases had reached critical mass.
, who had been based in Beijing as a journalist, argued during meetings in February that transmission was higher than being reported in China and that if community spread began in Europe there was little prospect of containing it.
Serious deliberations about Europe didn’t resume until mid-March. By then, Pottinger had gained a new ally., who had joined the task force earlier that month, entered a White House meeting armed with worrisome data on a surge in cases in northern Italy, as well as numbers that showed accelerating spread across Europe. Then, on March 11, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic.
Kushner then gathered with senior policy adviser Stephen Miller in the latter’s office to work on a draft. The duo were joined at times by Pence and were still making edits until shortly before Trump was scheduled to go live on television at 9 p.m. “Never has a less prepared set of remarks been delivered from that room,” said a former administration official.
At Dulles International Airport outside Washington, the cabin door on United Flight 989, headed for Frankfurt, Germany, had just been secured when Trump’s speech began airing on television networks. As he spoke, passengers began rising from their seats in panic. Brandishing bulletins about the speech on their cellphones, some pushed for the exits.The pilot and cabin crew began making frantic calls to supervisors for guidance.
“There was fear and chaos,” she said. Save for the tense days that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, she said, “I have never seen anything like it.”Airlines’ websites and phone lines were inundated in the hours after Trump’s Oval address. American Airlines fielded about 700,000 calls on March 12, a spokesman said, more than five times the number on a typical day.
“We had customer agents calling the security desk by the hundreds, telling us about individuals that have the symptoms,” the official said. “Our answer was to follow policy,” the official said, which meant they were not to be kept off aircraft unless they were demonstrably unfit to fly or had recently traveled to China.
Delta and American had announced on Jan. 31 they were suspending routes to China before Trump announced the restrictions. United informed the White House it had already decided to do the same but was willing to hold off on announcing it publicly if Trump was prepared to act swiftly in issuing an order, officials said. Eager to claim credit for acting to contain the virus, Trump’s announcement came within hours.
Even the most basic screening steps seemed to backfire. The CDC failed to distribute a new paper questionnaire in time for it to be shared with airlines in advance, meaning passengers had to fill it out upon arrival. As a result, travelers found themselves reaching around one another for slips of paper and pencils, risking transmission as the bottlenecks got worse.
Even JFK Airport in New York had “turned into a #CoronaVirus breeding ground,” one traveler tweeted, where teeming crowds were being subjected to “useless enhanced #COVID19 screening measures.” The next day, DHS officials identified procedural problems at O’Hare that helped explain why waits and lines there were worse than at other airports. Acting on instructions of supervisors, CBP agents were holding up passengers until all the screening data collected from them had been entered into department computers. Other airports had scrapped the paperwork, putting it off until later, soon after lines began to bulge.
The resounding answer he got from others was, “No.” The virus was already too widespread in the United States for travel curbs alone to make any difference. The only chance to contain the outbreak and save lives, some argued, was to impose drastic mitigation measures that would bring social interactions, as well as the economy, to a standstill.
There was a fleeting window of perhaps weeks when blocking travel from Europe might have shielded the Eastern Seaboard. “Horse out of the barn,” said Stuart Ray, a professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins University and expert on infectious diseases. The travel restrictions “could have bent the curve downward” only if deployed alongside massive testing, distribution of protective gear on an enormous scale and clear public messaging about social distancing.Some in the Trump administration argue that such assessments are too pessimistic.
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
There Should Be No Internet for One Weekend Per MonthIt's not a lot to ask
Weiterlesen »
Lana Del Rey Could Have Left This One in the DraftsOn Thursday, Lana Del Rey offered a reductive critique of the pop music scene and feminism, and in the process, she felt compelled to throw a bunch of black women under the bus, which as you can imagine didn’t go well for her.
Weiterlesen »
Ellen Gets Inside Scoop with Masked Singer Winner -- Plus, the One Person They Guessed RightAlmost immediately after the trophy was awarded on the Season 3 finale of 'The Masked Singer,' Ellen touched base with the winner in their home to talk about performing in costume, why they did the show and more.
Weiterlesen »
Debby Ryan Secretly Marries Twenty One Pilots' Josh DunDebby Ryan has revealed that she and Twenty One Pilots' Josh Dun are married. The couple wed in a New Year's Eve ceremony, planned in 28 days.
Weiterlesen »
These 4 stocks are investment pros’ favorites — and not one is a ‘FAANG’ stockValue stocks are out of favor, but not among successful investment pros, writes Mark Hulbert.
Weiterlesen »
You’ll Be Entertained For Hours After Hanging One Of These Bird Feeders In Your YardPrepare to become BFF with that blue jay.
Weiterlesen »