On her way home from a nation struggling to turn the tide on the coronavirus outbreak, a Montgomery County, Maryland, woman expected a lot more scrutiny than she got at Dulles International Airport when she reentered the U.S. last Saturday.
“No one gave us any instructions — there were no signs, no instructions from customs, and once we were beyond customs, we were in Washington,” said Jill, who withheld her last name out of concern for privacy.
Jill visited Florence, Italy, where her daughter is studying abroad. She witnessed run-of-the-mill life in northern Italy grind to a halt as coronavirus cases skyrocketed to their highest numbers outside mainland China. The throngs of tourists who flock to Florence’s museums, bridges and picturesque streets thinned out.
“There were definitely less crowds,” she said.
In the middle of her visit, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention raised its travel warning for Italy to level three, urging Americans to avoid nonessential travel there after it observed widespread community transmission of the new virus and the disease it causes, COVID-19.
Since Jill works in the medical field, not only did she educate herself on the situation, they also had guidance from her daughter’s college which was bringing students home because of the illness. They did what they could to protect themselves from the illness and planned to quarantine themselves for the CDC’s recommended 14 days upon their return.
From Florence to Paris, Jill said they simply boarded their flight with precautions being taken by airport personnel. “Italy was not going to test us, because they were probably happy to see us leave if we did have a fever,” she said.
The family connected in Paris and then flew into Dulles Airport. Though she was aware of them from her own research, at no point were they informed about federal health guidelines including a two-week self-quarantine for travelers who visited Italy or other countries where the virus is spreading.
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson told WTOP in a statement that only travelers who arrive from Iran or China undergo enhanced screenings for the illness. According to an online resource from Johns Hopkins University, Italy and South Korea are among countries reporting several thousand cases of infection as of March 10, in addition to China and Iran.
“If individuals are observed with symptoms of COVID-19, we will continue to work with the CDC to determine if a traveler is a possible public health risk by referring them for enhanced screening,” the statement read.
Jill said no one on the flight appeared to be showing flu-like symptoms. She was still surprised that at no time on the flight to the U.S., nor upon their arrival at Dulles, was information shared with them about the coronavirus.
She said even a notice with a single sentence advising her to self-quarantine would have sufficed.
Italy has since instituted a nationwide lockdown to contain a worsening epidemic which has killed 463 people in the country and infected nearly 10,000, spreading outward from the Lombardy region which hosts Italy’s second largest city, Milan.
Sixty million people — the country’s entire population — are being urged to remain indoors. On the evening of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s decision to clamp down on public gatherings and all but nonessential travel, videos circulated on social media of Italy’s civil protection service driving through the streets of Naples blaring emergency messages.
The CDC has recommendations on best hygiene practices, travel information and when to consider self-quarantining on their website.
WTOP’s Alejandro Alvarez contributed to this report.
