NEW YORK — A federal official says the White House overruled health officials who wanted to recommend that elderly and physically fragile Americans to be advised not to fly on commercial airlines because of the new coronavirus.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention submitted the plan this week as a way of trying to control the virus, but White House officials ordered the air travel recommendation to be removed.
That’s according to a federal official with direct knowledge of the plan who did not have authorization to talk about the matter and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Vice President Mike Pence's press secretary Katie Miller said that “it was never a recommendation to the Task Force” and called the AP story “complete fiction."