US virus czar bemoans crush at airports

The US government’s top official on infectious diseases says he’s worried about the health risks of long lines and crowding at US airports amid new coronavirus travel restrictions.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, who heads the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, tells “Fox News Sunday” that “we’d like to not see crowds like that” as Americans and other travelers return from Europe. He cited the aim of social distancing to prevent spread of COVID-19.

In this Saturday, March 14, 2020 photo, a Transportation Security Administration agent hands a passport back to a traveler as she screens travelers, at a checkpoint inside an airline terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. (AP/Kathy Willens)

Fauci says it’s understandable with a travel ban, people would immediately feel they want to “hunker and get home,” but if you’re an American citizen, you can get back “there is no need to rush back.”

Weary travelers returning to the US amid coronavirus-related travel restrictions have been greeted by long lines and hourslong waits for required medical screenings at airports.

— AP