Trump had been told last Saturday that only evacuees who didn’t have symptoms or positive test results would be allowed on State Department charter planes back to the US from Japan.
Trump was ‘furious’ that 14 Americans infected with coronavirus boarded a plane back to the US from Japan without his permission, which officials admit was a ‘big mistake’
- President Trump is furious that infected evacuees were flown back to US from Japan last Saturday
- Decision was made on the fly after infections were confirmed at last minute at the Tokyo airport
- US evacuated 328 passengers from coronavirus cruise ship Diamond Princess in Japan last week
- But any confirmed infected or symptomatic cases were supposed to remain in Japan for treatment
- State Department overruled CDC objections and decided to bring the 14 back anyway
- Trump reportedly blasted aides for not telling him, saying he disagreed with the decision
‘It’s important to remember this was an emerging and unusual circumstance,’ said Ian Brownlee, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Consular Affairs.
‘We had 328 people on buses, a plan to execute and we received lab results on people who were otherwise asymptomatic, un-ill people on a bus on the way to the airport.
‘The people on the ground did exactly the right thing…in bringing them home.’
People who had tested positive were put into isolation units on board the two cargo planes, which then flew to Joint Base San Antonio – Lackland in Texas and Travis Air Base in California.
Although officials reassured the press that the sick passengers were thoroughly contained and every precaution had been taken to ensure the safety of the healthy people onboard, reports later emerged that people on the flights had no idea they were sharing yet another even more confined space with infected individuals.
MORE @ Source: Trump was furious that 14 Americans infected with coronavirus boarded a plane back to the US | Daily Mail Online
