‘Complete confusion’ at DFW Airport as coronavirus screenings lead to massive crowds
Travelers described a chaotic scene and long lines at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport over the weekend due to enhanced coronavirus-related health screenings.
Many shared photos and videos on social media that showed the customs line of the airport packed with people, some of whom wore masks.
A spokesman for DFW Airport said the delays are due to a questionnaire mandated by the Department of Homeland Security and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The airport is one of 13 U.S. airports accepting flights from Europe and other impacted regions.
Michelle Moggio, her husband and 12-year-old daughter were returning from Mexico on Saturday. The family was taking a connecting flight to Austin at DFW Airport. Moggio said it took them hours to make it through customs, and there appeared to be only one customs gate open for U.S. citizens returning from international flights.
“I thought there was going to be more screening,” she said. “But I guess it was just crazy. Especially the social distancing, there were hundreds if not thousands of people crowded in, with no custom gates open.”
She said people from around the world were packed into the same space “like sardines.”
“It was complete confusion,” she said. “There were people sitting on the floor because we were just not moving. You see people with masks, and you’re like, are they doing it for precautionary measures or because they have a cough? And you’re stuck up next to them.”
When the family did make it to the customs gate, she said no one checked their passports or temperatures, and they were only asked if they had been to Europe or South Korea in the past 14 days.
She said people were filling out forms on computers, and “everyone was touching the screens,” but there was no hand sanitizer. No one at customs told them they should self-isolate when they got home.
Cynthia Weatherford was returning from Scotland with 15 high school students and three adults from Treetops School International, where she is a teacher at in Dallas. She said the lines were wrapped through the airport hallways and no one knew where to go. People who did not work at the airport were helping to direct the crowds, and people who were deplaning kept jumping in front of other people in line.
When her group reached the customs gate after three hours, no one asked any health-related questions or did any kind of screening, she said.
“I have no clue why they’re saying people are getting screened, because out of my whole group of 19, no one got screened,” Weatherford said. “We probably all got sick from that plane and those lines because you’re just crowded in there. It’s crazy.”
She also said no one suggested they should self-quarantine when they go home.
“It was just a nightmare, everything,” she said.
Abbott responds to DFW airport chaos
Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted in response to the crowds at DFW Airport.
“This is unacceptable & I’m working to get it fixed,” Abbott said in a tweet. “I have spoken to the official in charge of this — the head of Homeland Security. They are working 24-7 to add personnel and make other changes to fix this ASAP.”
An airport spokesman said Sunday they are increasing sanitation and increasing staff at the airport, and Customs and Border Protection changed the process to improve screening times.
The Moggio family went to Ixapa, Mexico, with another family — United Kingdom citizens who live in Austin on work visas. Moggio said her friends were second in line at customs for two and a half hours, and almost did not make it through.
“The guy there stopped them and said, ‘I don’t know if we can let you in,’” she said. “The guy called a supervisor and asked if they could get in. They were let in, and he said, ‘If you had flown in on Sunday, you couldn’t get in.’ So there’s confusion.”
On Saturday, the Trump administration expanded travel restrictions from Europe to include the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Tarrant County confirmed a fourth COVID-19 case Saturday in a patient who is a close contact of an American Airlines pilot who had tested positive for the novel coronavirus earlier in the week.
No one at DFW Airport came in contact with the fourth patient since symptoms developed, Tarrant County Public Health Director Vinny Taneja said Saturday night.
Other major airports faced similar chaos due to the health screenings.
More than 156,000 cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 5,800 deaths as of March 15, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 2,950 confirmed cases with at least 60 deaths.
This story was originally published March 15, 2020 at 12:23 PM.
