A brand new and deadly virus that has been taking a heavy toll on China for the reason that finish of 2019 is now threatening to go international, and the entire world is watching.
Background
On December 31, 2019, a number of pneumonia circumstances in Wuhan Metropolis in China’s Hubei Province had been reported by the World Well being Group. The virus that precipitated them, which didn’t match any identified virus, was later confirmed by Chinese language authorities as a coronavirus, a household of viruses that included the widespread chilly, and viruses such because the Center East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and extreme acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and was given the preliminary identify of “2019-nCoV.” Additionally known as the novel coronavirus, the coronavirus in query is at present drawing intense consideration due to its similarities to SARS, which claimed greater than 600 lives in China and Hong Kong and no less than 100 overseas between 2002 and 2003.
Confirmed Instances And Fatalities
The variety of confirmed circumstances of coronavirus in China has ballooned to greater than four,500, with greater than 100 lifeless because of this. Though the epicenter is in Wuhan, Facilities for Illness Management (CDC) and Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS) officers stated Tuesday that there are 60 confirmed circumstances in additional than 10 nations exterior China, together with 5 in the US. In consequence, the CDC has issued its most extreme warning for China, advising vacationers towards all non-essential journey to the nation, with the state division additionally issuing comparable warnings.
Screening Stations And Their Places
USA TODAY reported Tuesday that the CDC and HHS revealed extra particulars concerning the authorities’s plans to increase coronavirus screening efforts, with the checklist of taking part airports growing from 5 to 20, all aligning with the Heart’s current quarantine stations that cowl all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, a part of the CDC’s system for limiting the introduction and unfold of contagious ailments.
In a speech Monday by Vice President Mike Pence, he stated that the next airports will collectively deal with over 90 % of passengers arriving from China (with screenings on the first 5 now happening):
Los Angeles InternationalSan Francisco InternationalChicago O’HareNew York John F. KennedyAtlanta Hartsfield-Jackson InternationalHouston George Bush Intercontinental Dallas-Fort Value InternationalSan Diego InternationalSeattle-Tacoma InternationalHonolulu InternationalAnchorage Ted Stevens InternationalMinneapolis-St. Paul InternationalDetroit MetropolitanMiami InternationalWashington Dulles InternationalPhiladelphia InternationalNewark Liberty InternationalBoston Logan InternationalEl Paso InternationalPuerto Rico’s San Juan Airport
Nature Of Screening
Vacationers flying from China to any one of many 20 listed airports are required to fill out a brief questionnaire concerning the nature of their journey, any signs and speak to data, with CDC workers taking their temperatures to verify for indicators of cough or respiration difficulties.
For vacationers who seem sick, additional analysis by the CDC is required to find out whether or not they need to be despatched to a hospital for additional care, though the primary two of the 5 coronavirus circumstances within the U.S. concerned vacationers who didn’t present any signs on the airport. To keep away from this, vacationers with out coronavirus signs are given well being data playing cards with particulars on the signs that they need to look as much as two weeks after leaving China.