RICHMOND — More than 14,000 Americans and Afghans have arrived in Virginia after evacuation from Afghanistan, but fewer than 20 have tested positive for COVID-19, Gov. Ralph Northam said Friday, as the federal government prepares to begin operating a second mass vaccination clinic near Washington Dulles International Airport.
The arrival of thousands of Afghans, most of them allies and their families in the 20-year war that is ending in Afghanistan, coincides with a new surge in the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia, which reported 3,520 new cases and 40 deaths from the coronavirus disease Friday.
Northam said the number of positive cases — just four out of 3,000 tests administered to arrivals Thursday — has been “much better than our statewide numbers.”
“If people are saying this mission is bringing COVID to the U.S., that’s simply not true,” the governor said in a telephone conference call with reporters on Friday morning.
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Northam had been scheduled to meet virtually Thursday with President Joe Biden and the governors of other states hosting Afghan immigrants and refugees, but the meeting was canceled after a terrorist attack that killed 13 U.S. military members and up to 170 Afghan civilians outside Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
More than 104,000 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban arrived in Kabul, and more than 12,000 have been flown out of the airport in the past day.
“It’s one of the largest airlifts in history,” Northam said. “Virginia has a very important and critical role.”
None of the arrivals are flying to the United States directly from Afghanistan, but are coming from Germany and five other countries after undergoing security checks and testing for COVID-19. All of the evacuees have arrived at Dulles in Loudoun County since the first planeload of Afghan allies landed July 30, but the government is preparing to divert some flights to Philadelphia International Airport, the governor said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, known as FEMA, is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to newly arrived Afghans at the Dulles Expo Center, a staging area in Fairfax County for preparing the evacuees for transfer to Fort Lee and other U.S. military bases, including Fort Pickett near Blackstone in Nottoway County and the U.S. Marine Corps base at Quantico in Northern Virginia.
Fort Pickett, home to the Virginia National Guard, expects the first group of evacuees to arrive at the base Saturday and Quantico will receive its first Afghan arrivals Sunday, the governor said. Fort Pickett has a capacity for about 3,800 people, although he said it could increase to 5,000 or, if necessary, 10,000. The base at Quantico, which covers parts of three Northern Virginia counties, has capacity for about 1,000, but could increase it to 5,000.
Virginia officials deferred to the U.S. State Department on protocols for vaccination, including whether they are mandatory for new arrivals, but Northam said the state is handling the arriving Afghans “with kid gloves” because of the trauma of their evacuation from Afghanistan after the sudden takeover by the Taliban.
“These people are coming out of a war zone,” the governor said. “They are landing in a new country. A lot of this is going to be education and training.”
FEMA is preparing to begin operating a second clinic planned at the Washington Dulles Airport Marriott, where 275 American citizens and lawful permanent residents have been received at the Emergency Repatriation Center that Virginia set up Aug. 15, the day the Taliban entered Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Virginia officials said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is administering the vaccinations, with assistance for the state’s volunteer Medical Reserve Corps.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said he is in close contact with the Northam administration about the potential for a mass vaccination site, adding: “I am committed to doing what I can on the federal level to support vaccinating our Afghan allies.”
Fort Lee has been a key base for processing arriving Afghans, especially those with special immigration visas and their families because of their service as translators and other support roles for the U.S. military since the war began in Afghanistan in 2001.
The first planeload of Afghans — 206 adults and 15 infants — arrived at Dulles with visas under Operation Allies Refuge on July 30. They were transferred that day to Fort Lee, which currently has a capacity of 1,750, although state officials said it could increase that number if necessary.
Northam said relatively few Afghans live at the base, where the average stay has been five days.
“It means people are being processed and moved to new homes in communities across the country,” he said.
Northam and his wife, Pam, have visited the processing center at Fort Lee. “The operation is highly efficient,” he said. “It’s something we can all be proud of in Virginia.”