On Monday afternoon, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its online advisory to tell travellers to avoid non-essential travel to any part of China. The previous advisory told travellers to avoid non-essential travel to Wuhan or other parts of Hubei province, and not the rest of China.
China has confirmed more than 4,500 people with the new illness (which can cause pneumonia) and more than 100 deaths. So far, there are five confirmed patients in the US, and no sign that they have spread the illness to anyone around them. They had all travelled to the centre of the outbreak.
The US State Department says it has ordered its employees in Wuhan to leave the city and is offering seats on a charter flight to US citizens who also want to leave. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said there will be doctors on the flight to check all the passengers so health officials can decide if additional steps are needed.
State department officials said Monday in a statement that the flight to Ontario, California, is expected to leave Wuhan on Wednesday morning local time. Priority will be given to citizens who are most at risk of contracting the virus.
Alaska health officials say the flight is expected to make a refueling stop at Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage and that about 240 Americans are expected to be aboard.
The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services says the passengers will be screened for the illness before they leave Wuhan by US and Chinese health officials. Anyone with symptoms will not be allowed to board the aircraft.
The department in a statement says they will be screened again at Anchorage.
More quarantine stations
The CDC has already been checking arrivals at five US airports that once had direct flights from the hardest-hit section of China. While China has instituted broad travel bans, people who had been in other parts of China still may be arriving via other countries.
The centre is now beefing up screening at 15 more quarantine stations,’ for a total of 18 airports around the country and two border crossings, in El Paso, Texas, and San Diego.
But travellers may not be sick right then, CDC’s Dr. Nancy Messonnier said. The screenings also are an opportunity to educate travellers that if they develop symptoms — such as fever or a cough — after returning from the outbreak zone, they should contact their doctor, she said.
That’s exactly what the first two US patients did.