Cardboard beds have been set up in the baggage claim area of Japan’s Narita International Airport where travelers, even some from Italy and the United States, are being forced to stay and wait for coronavirus test results in hopes of returning home. Before those passengers can leave the airport, a test must be performed. Although the tests results come back as quickly as 6 hours, passengers are still being forced to stay in the airport up to a day or two due to a delay according to Channel News Asia.
Though the airport has shut down one of its runways due to the lack of air travel amid the coronavirus outbreak, they’re still seeing some travel. While the set up gives people a place to rest their head, some are criticizing the setup via social media. “They don’t do much testing in Japan, but many returnees from overseas are infected,” one person tweeted according to the New York Post. “We consider this space a high risk of infection.” While it may not be ideal, according to CNN there are workers dressed from head to toe in protective gear passing around food and water to those waiting.
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As for the United States, testing sites are popping up across the nation in hopes of expanding test opportunities to residents. In the beginning, these testing spots were mainly covering frontline workers only, but Walmart announced in early April that they would be opening up spots at 10 of their stores across the states. “We’re making progress,” CEO Doug McMillon said in an interview with Today. “Walmart, along with some other retailers, have been working with the testing labs, state governments and the federal government to try and stand these up.”
He added, “We’ve put up a few. We think we’re gonna have 20 sites open over 10 states in the next couple of weeks. PPE [personal protective equipment] was the original limitation but that’s starting to improve and we’re hoping to get those open and operating quickly in the places they’re needed most. … Through April, we think we found an additional million gowns that we’ll be able to get to hospitals and through the month of May, millions more to help out on the front line.”
An update on their progress was given with a Walmart spokesperson telling Business Insider, “We currently have three sites open, and we have plans to expand testing to multiple sites next week with the goal of having more than 20 sites in more than 10 states by the end of the month.”
