Flights Into the U.S. Are Not Yet Being Rerouted for Coronavirus Screening, CDC Says

Days after officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that all travelers from Wuhan, China would be “funnel[ed]” through one of five U.S. airports to be screened for a novel coronavirus, representatives from the agency said the plan is still in the process of being implemented—and it’s unclear exactly when it will be, a process complicated by a quarantine in Wuhan put in place by the Chinese government. On a Jan. 21 call with reporters, Dr. Martin Cetron, director of the CDC’s division of global migration and quarantine, said all U.S.-bound passengers from Wuhan would be funneled through one of five domestic airports—New York City’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport—equipped to screen for the coronavirus, which is spreading around Asia and was this week confirmed in the U.S.. Cetron called the system a “full-on, 100% coverage strategy” that “involves reissuing tickets and rerouting passengers from all over the globe through connecting and direct flights.” On Jan. 23, a representative from the CDC’s preparedness and response division told TIME that those airports are, indeed, screening passengers who may have contracted coronavirus while abroad. Flights into the U.S. are not yet being rerou...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized Infectious Disease Source Type: news