By ANDREA SACHS | The Washington Post | Published: April 30, 2021
Stars and Stripes is making stories on the coronavirus pandemic available free of charge. See more staff and wire stories here. Sign up for our daily coronavirus newsletter here. Please support our journalism with a subscription.
To prepare for an April trip to Europe, Sharif El-Mahdi checked the government websites of the United States, his home country and the two destinations on his itinerary. He consulted with his airline, TAP Portugal, and scanned foreign news outlets for information on restrictions and closures. In the days before his departure, he amassed a stack of documents, including coronavirus test results for himself and his young daughter, who needed a nasal swab for Portugal but not Spain. Despite his due diligence, he arrived at Washington Dulles International Airport filled with uncertainty.