Chuck Todd Questions Fauci on Chaos at U.S. Airports: ‘What Went Wrong Here?’
By now you may have seen news of chaotic scenes at a number of big airports across the United States, crowded with tons of people waiting for hours for coronavirus screenings overnight.
This is the scene at O’Hare airport. The traveler who took the photo said it’s a 6-hour wait for bags then on to customs for 2-4 more of waiting in shoulder-to-shoulder crowds. Police are handing out water and disinfectant wipes. @fly2ohare #ord #coronavirus #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/UTx9E0nj1s
— Brooke Geiger McDonald (@BrookeGMcDonald) March 15, 2020
#BREAKING: Passengers stuck in long lines for immigration at @DFWAirport tell us there are no offers of hand sanitizer, gloves, or masks from U.S. Customs / Immigration. Travelers say they’ve had no screenings of temp yet and no one following #coronavirus protocols. pic.twitter.com/9viCnWdncz
— Jason Whitely (@JasonWhitely) March 15, 2020
The governor of Illinois was pretty pissed off about the scene at O’Hare:
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
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 15, 2020
The federal government needs to get its [email protected]#t together. NOW.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) March 15, 2020
Chuck Todd spoke with Dr. Anthony Fauci this morning on Meet the Press, and brought up the serious crowds of people “being jammed together.”
“What went wrong here?” he asked.
“I don’t think anything went wrong. I think it’s just the nature of the problem,” Fauci responded. “When you have a situation when people are in different countries, there are going to be restrictions, American citizens, their family, others, permanent residences, they can get back. They don’t need to immediately get back because they think they’re going to get left out.”
“They will be able to get back. When they do get back, they’re going to have some enhanced screening. Depending on the country. If you’re in the European group, if you’re now with the UK and Ireland, you’re going to have two weeks of self-imposed isolation,” he added.
Todd also brought up how dire things are in Italy and asked if the U.S. needs to start shutting down bars and restaurants. Fauci said there should be a focus on cracking down on areas with “real, obvious community spread.”
“Everybody has to get involved in distancing themselves socially. If you are in an area where there’s clear community spread, you have to be much, much more intense about how you do that,” he said.
You can watch above, via NBC.
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