More than 8,600 Afghan refugees and Afghan U.S. citizens have landed at Dulles International Airport from Kabul since that city fell to the Taliban this month, a spokesman for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) said Wednesday.
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Dulles has been the country’s main port of entry for what Biden administration officials call one of the largest airlifts in history, totaling 82,300 evacuees from Afghanistan to countries worldwide since Aug. 14.
After arriving from Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Germany, Spain and Bulgaria — where they were temporarily housed at refugee sites after leaving Kabul — the Afghan men, women and children landing at Dulles were tested for the coronavirus, said Grant Neely, Northam’s spokesman.
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U.S. citizens on those planes who could provide proof of a recent negative test result were not tested, he said.
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Neely didn’t immediately know how many of the Afghan evacuees have tested positive so far.
But, he said, among the 900 who were tested on Tuesday, just 11 appeared to be infected by the virus and were treated and isolated.
Plans are underway to launch a mass vaccination site for the still-arriving refugees, he said.
Evacuees who are U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents and have tested negative or provided proof of a recent negative test result have been allowed to go home.
Afghan refugees — many of them entire families — have been bused to the nearby Dulles Expo Center, where they have been given medical assistance and other aid before being taken to military installations in the Washington region, Texas and Wisconsin.
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On Wednesday, the Department of Defense agreed to use the U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico and the Fort Pickett U.S. Army installation in Blackstone, Va., to temporarily house about 15,000 former Afghan interpreters, translators and their families who are being processed for special immigrant visas, Neely said.
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“A great deal of humanitarian work is happening in Virginia right now — and it’s something that all Americans can be proud of,” Neely said in an email. “The operation is really complex, with lots of moving parts, and shared responsibility across many government agencies at the federal, state, and local levels.”
The evacuees have arrived exhausted and, in some cases, in need of medical attention after enduring a chaotic scene outside the Kabul airport and going several days without food.
Neely said local health officials have provided medical treatment and behavioral health support to Afghan refugees.
U.S. citizens on those flights in need of a place to stay or other assistance have been taken to a Marriott hotel on the airport’s grounds.