As U.S. troops in Kabul evacuate thousands of Americans and Afghan allies, they are also trying to mitigate the spread of coronavirus.
Medical personnel at the Hamid Karzai International Airport, the staging and takeoff location for the evacuations following the Taliban’s takeover, “are conducting COVID screenings for those who are feeble or symptomatic,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at Monday’s briefing.
The White House also said on Monday the administration is “working through” plans to vaccinate Afghan evacuees.
A spokesperson for Health and Human Services told the Washington Examiner that “the health and well-being of Americans and all other people relocating from Afghanistan to the U.S. is of utmost importance and that means helping these individuals leave the country as quickly and safely as possible. We are following CDC guidelines and testing all US citizens and individuals upon arrival. We are also working with USG partners to ensure CDC guidelines are followed if someone receives a positive COVID-19 test, including quarantining if needed.”
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Kirby also said some evacuees who went from Kabul to intermediary countries may face a second screening upon landing, depending on that country’s coronavirus guidelines. Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Italy, Spain, and Germany are temporary havens.
“Upon arrival at the United States, all passengers are being tested upon arrival and then — you know, and then medical professionals make the proper decisions after that,” he added.
“We are taking appropriate precautions,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner about what happens to evacuees who test positive for COVID-19 and are symptomatic before leaving Afghanistan. “Given the extraordinary circumstances, a blanket humanitarian exemption has been issued for COVID testing for all individuals the U.S. government is transporting by aircraft from Afghanistan.”
From Sunday to Monday, five flights carrying approximately 1,300 passengers landed at Dulles International Airport outside of Washington, D.C., according to Maj. Gen. William “Hank” Taylor, the joint staff deputy director for regional operations.
Afghan refugees will be housed at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin; Fort Lee, Virginia; Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey; and Fort Bliss, Texas. There are approximately 1,200 people there between the four bases, Kirby said, though the bases have the capacity to hold 25,000 people. Kirby said it would take “days and weeks” for the United States to reach that level of capability.
The U.S. has evacuated or helped facilitate the evacuation of approximately 37,000 people since Aug. 14 as of Monday morning, according to a White House official. They’ve evacuated roughly 42,000 people during the entire month of August.
“Several thousand” of the evacuees were Americans, Kirby said at the briefing, though he declined to get more specific.
Army Gen. Stephen Lyons told reporters at a briefing on Monday troops conducting the evacuations are masked, but the Afghans themselves aren’t.
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Additionally, U.S. troops were able to evacuate 10,400 people from Kabul from Sunday morning to Monday morning, surpassing Taylor’s comments last week that the Pentagon’s “best effort could look like 5,000 to 9,000 passengers departing per day.”
The Pentagon spokesperson was unaware of any U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan testing positive for the virus.
