What to Know
- Travelers at 3 U.S. airports, including JFK Airport, will be screened for a new virus, potentially from China, effective immediately, the CDC announced Friday.
- The CDC and CBP will implement enhanced health screenings to detect ill travelers traveling to the United States on direct or connecting flights from Wuhan, China
- The three airports that will receive the screenings are: San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX)
Travelers at 3 U.S. airports, including JFK Airport, will be screened for a new virus, potentially from China, effective immediately, the CDC announced Friday.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection will implement enhanced health screenings to detect ill travelers traveling to the United States on direct or connecting flights from Wuhan, China.
This activity is in response to an outbreak in China caused by a new coronavirus (2019 nCoV), with exported cases to Thailand and Japan.
Starting Friday, travelers from Wuhan to the United States will undergo entry screenings for symptoms associated with 2019-nCoV at three U.S. airports that receive most of the travelers from Wuhan, China: San Francisco (SFO), New York (JFK), and Los Angeles (LAX) airports.
“To further protect the health of the American public during the emergence of this novel coronavirus, CDC is beginning entry screening at three ports of entry. Investigations into this novel coronavirus are ongoing and we are monitoring and responding to this evolving situation,” Director of CDC’s Division of Global Migration and Quarantine Martin Cetron said.
Based on current information, the risk from 2019-nCoV to the American public is currently deemed to be low. However, the CDC is taking precautions.
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In order to screen the travelers, the CDC is deploying around 100 additional staff to the three airports to supplement existing staff at CDC quarantine stations located at those airports.
China health officials report that most of the patients infected with 2019-nCoV have had exposure to a large market where live animals were present, suggesting this is a new virus that has jumped species to infect people, the CDC said.
Chinese authorities additionally report that several hundred health care workers caring for outbreak patients are being monitored and no spread of this virus from patients to health care workers has been seen. Although they also report no sustained spread of this virus in the community, there are indications that some limited person-to-person spread may have occurred, according to the CDC.
For more information on the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, click here.
