quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
What’s weird is we screened flights from Wuhan in late January, when there were fewer than 1000 cases there. Now Italy, orders of magnitude smaller, has 4K cases and there’s no screening.

quote:

Originally posted by jon-nyc:
What’s weird is we screened flights from Wuhan in late January, when there were fewer than 1000 cases there. Now Italy, orders of magnitude smaller, has 4K cases and there’s no screening.

quote:

The White House is holding meetings on how to reduce the threat of coronavirus infecting President Trump and his staff after quietly tightening visitor rules last month, The Post has learned.

In response to the outbreak of COVID-19, the White House has mandated that guests disclose all countries visited in the past 30 days. And further steps are under review by a group led by Tony Ornato, White House deputy chief of staff for operations.

The group was described to The Post by one senior administration official as a “task force” that convenes when necessary to address emerging threat situations.

The biggest visible change in the West Wing has been installation of hand sanitizer stations. But the senior official said temperature checks and ending public tours are possible if the crisis worsens — though neither is imminent.

The Ornato-led group is “constantly monitoring and re-evaluating” White House protocols, the official said.

The review follows a significant security change to screen potentially infected visitors.

A different official said that on Feb. 21, the Secret Service began requiring non-pass-holding visitors to the White House complex to submit a list of countries visited in the past 30 days.

The Secret Service and the White House Medical Unit review the information and follow up with people who have visited countries with coronavirus outbreaks.

“It’s not a hard and fast ban, but it lets the medical experts know who to talk to with follow-up questions,” an official said. “People have been very cooperative and understanding, which we appreciate.”

Journalists who do not have a permanent pass and guests entering the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building must supply their travel information as well.