Trump ban on flights from Europe roil markets, cause chaos at airports

WASHINGTON: The much-loved actor Tom Hanks, his wife Rita Wilson, and two NBA players were among those who were reported to have contracted the coronavirus on Thursday, putting celebrity faces on a pandemic that is causing spasmodic and uncoordinated response from governments across the world as they sought to slow down its spread.
In a nationally televised address on Wednesday night, US President Donald Trump announced an unprecedented 30-day ban on air traffic from Europe, roiling an already turbulent stock market and street mood in the US that is taking a dim view of his approach to the problem. He initially made light of it last week saying there were only 15 cases in the US and they would be gone soon because of America's "incredible" response.
Instead, there is growing concern that Washington's response has been slow and sloppy. On Wednesday night, Trump ramped it up with a selective ban on flights from Europe, following up on a similar ban on flights from China. Direct non-stop flights from India to the US are still operational.
While US markets tanked into bear territory when it opened Thursday morning – causing trading to be halted for the second time this week —Washington’s European allies, already leery of Trump, expressed anger at the sudden move that for unspecified reason excluded the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Trump’s one-month ban on flights from Europe starting Friday night caused chaos on the continent with Americans scrambling to get back home from across the pond amid reports that some were paying as much as $20,000 to get on to a plane. Vice-President Mike Pence followed up Trump’s sketchy address with several clarifications, including assurances that American citizens and permanent residents will be allowed to come home even after the Friday midnight ban, but they will be asked to voluntarily quarantine for 14 days, whether they have coronavirus symptoms or not, once they land.
It was not clear how they would return once flights cease, but the expectations are that airlines will run special characters as they did in the case of returnees from China. The administration is designating 13 airports where the evacuation flights can land — Honolulu, Chicago, Dallas, L.A.X, San Francisco, Atlanta, JFK, Seattle, Washington DC, Newark and Detroit, plus two yet to be named.
Postponements, deferments, and cancellations cascaded across the nation as scientific and epidemiological advice pointed to the need to “flatten the curve” of the coronavirus spread in order to gain time – to get a better fix on it in terms of erecting infrastructure, long-term sustainable policies, institute personal and public protocols, and mostly importantly, develop a vaccine. The National Basketball Association suspended its season, as did Major League Soccer, and Capitol Hill, home of the House of Representative and the Senate, shut down after a Congressional staffer was diagnosed with the virus.
President Trump got hammered from all sides for lack of decisive leadership, despite moves such as a payroll tax cut, getting health insurance companies to waive copayments for coronavirus tests, and possible deferment of the April 15 tax-filing deadline. He exacerbated the criticism with a sketchy address to the nation prefaced with a hot mic incident showing him using an expletive because he got an ink stain on himself and asking if anyone had “some white stuff” with which he could remove it.
There was also criticism of US lawmakers referring to Covid-19 as the Wuhan virus and China virus – Trump himself called it a “foreign” virus – even as the illness was spreading across secondary borders beyond China. Hanks and his wife caught it in Australia where they were shooting for a movie.
Trump himself came under scrutiny after it was disclosed that he was in close proximity with a Brazilian official who was with him at Mar-a-Lago last Saturday and who was subsequently diagnosed with coronavirus.