Travelers heading to the US this week are facing long lines and hourslong waits as they go through screening to test for illness.
Saturday, as many returned to the US from Europe, 13 airports put measures into place to test travelers for coronavirus in efforts to slow the spread of the disease, NBC Los Angeles reports. While lines appeared to be shorter by Sunday morning, more flights from these countries had yet to arrive.
Traveler Austin Boschen, who was returning from a spring break trip in Mexico with his girlfriend, was one of the travelers affected by these lines and screenings. Arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Boschen described his experience as "atrocious, no semblance of a line beyond the barriers and no officials or staff around to direct."
Reaching the front of the line, Boschen quickly learned that even the travelers at the head had been waiting around for two or more hours.
"The entire time people in the crowd would yell out in anger, and Customs officers would yell at people to not take pictures," he wrote in an email. "Short chants among the room would start and stop periodically. It was very tense at times, the crowd was very agitated."
A similar scenario could be found at Chicago's O'Hare International, where traveler Katy Rogers spent four hours attempting to return home. "Everybody was nervous about it," she said. "Everyone working there was confused and frustrated, and there were hands were tied, too."
The mass crowds at airports led Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker to tweet at President Donald Trump, urging him to address the situation. Pritzker then revealed on Sunday's "Meet the Press" that he believed aiports should have upped their staffing in anticipation of the crowds. Because of the lack of organization, passengers were "flooding into O'Hare Airport, they were stuck in a small area, hundreds and hundreds of people, and that's exactly what you don't want in this pandemic."
US citizens, green card holders, and some others are allowed to return home while travelers from Europe are being rerouted to the 13 airports that are subject to health screenings.