President Donald Trump and his administration have ordered a halt to screenings of international airline passengers entering the United States, and ordered the end of the program to be “secret until a public announcement is made,” Yahoo News reports.
As on 12:01 AM Monday, Sept. 14, “all screenings will come to a halt.” That includes temperature checks and health questions related to potential COVID-19 symptoms, as well as contact information which is used for contact tracing – one of the best methods for containing the spread of the coronavirus.
“Without that information, it likely won’t be possible to contact passengers on a flight who may have potentially been exposed to someone infected with COVID-19,” Yahoo adds.
The shut down of the screening program comes just before the start of flu season, which is expected to be especially deadly this year, and amid a rise in coronavirus infections across the country.
Under President Trump, the U.S. has one of the world’s worst overall response to the coronavirus pandemic. There have been more than 6.5 million coronavirus cases in America, and nearly 195,000 deaths – far more than any other nation.
The U.S ranks 12th in coronavirus deaths per capita, meaning there are only 11 nations with a worse record on deaths.