U.S. Sets Evacuation Plan From Coronavirus-Infected Wuhan

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U.S. Sets Evacuation Plan From Coronavirus-Infected Wuhan
The State Department is organizing a flight out of the Chinese city to extricate diplomats and a limited number of private U.S. citizens

A closed train station in Wuhan. PHOTO: CHINATOPIX/ASSOCIATED PRESS
By James T. Areddy and Liza Lin
Updated Jan. 26, 2020 6:07 am ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/state-department-confirms-evacuation-flight-from-wuhan-11580012055

SHANGHAI—The U.S. State Department said Sunday that it is organizing a single flight out of the central Chinese city of Wuhan, confirming efforts to extricate diplomats and a limited number of private U.S. citizens from the virus-hit city.

In an email to U.S. citizens in China also posted to its website, the State Department said a flight would leave Wuhan on Tuesday and fly to San Francisco. It invited U.S. citizens with a valid passport to contact the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Private citizens are expected to later repay the travel costs, the notice said.

“This capacity is extremely limited and if there is insufficient ability to transport everyone who expresses interest, priority will be given to individuals at greater risk from coronavirus,” the notice said.

It said the flight was tied to State Department arrangements to relocate its personnel from the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, which a person familiar with the matter said will be temporarily closed.

U.S. authorities believe that roughly 1,000 American citizens live in and around Wuhan, a sprawl of 11 million people with a manufacturing-based economy that includes a number of major American companies. Such an evacuation from China is unusual but reflects growing international alarm at the fast-spreading virus that first appeared in Wuhan late last year.

The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that the U.S. flight evacuation plan had been negotiated with China’s Foreign Ministry and other Chinese government agencies, citing a person familiar with the situation. The U.S. government also agreed to having medical workers aboard the plane to ensure that the evacuation effort doesn’t inadvertently further spread the virus and to accept responsibility for the risk of moving people who may be sick or carrying the disease.

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Coronavirus: Americans Evacuated From Wuhan Will Remain At U.S. Air Base For 3 Days
January 29, 2020 10:16 AM ET
BILL CHAPPELL

Updated at 11:15 p.m. ET

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/01/29/800761987/coronavirus-americans-cheer-as-evacuation-flight-from-wuhan-reaches-u-s

The 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, because of the coronavirus outbreak will remain at a military base in Southern California for three days while medical staff monitor their health, federal health officials said Wednesday, as the White House announced the formation of a special task force to handle the U.S. response to the outbreak.

"These people are not under federal quarantine orders," said Dr. Chris Braden of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, the evacuees have voluntarily agreed to a 72-hour "hold" that calls for them to stay at the base both as a precaution and out of concern for others.

Braden said he greeted the passengers after their charter flight, which stopped in Alaska, landed at March Air Reserve Base. "They were happy to be here," he added.

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Americans evacuated from China amid the coronavirus outbreak will be monitored for days
By Eliott C. McLaughlin and Faith Karimi, CNN

Updated 8:53 AM ET, Thu January 30, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/29/health/us-coronavirus-evacuation-wednesday/index.html

(CNN)Health officials will not issue a blanket quarantine for the nearly 200 Americans who landed at a California military base following their evacuation from Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak in China.

The plan is to monitor passengers at the base for three days, checking them for fever and other symptoms at least twice daily, said Dr. Chris Braden, deputy director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

If health officials determine they pose low or no risk of infecting others, they can go home but will need to be monitored by local officials for the 14-day incubation period, he said. The patients staying at March Air Reserve Base near Riverside, California, might also choose to remain there for the 14 days.

Should anyone demand to go home within the first 72 hours, an individual quarantine is an option, Braden said.

"If anyone demands to leave right now, that is where all of the partners ... would come together and talk about what needs to be done," said Dr. Nancy Knight, the CDC's director of the division of global health protection, noting that US marshals are on hand to ensure everyone's safety.

Some passengers told Braden they'd stay voluntarily, he said.

"They wanted to know their own status. They wanted to know the status of their children. They wanted to protect their family, They wanted to protect others," he said.

Touching down in California

The plane chartered by the US State Department left Wuhan and touched down late Tuesday night at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport in Alaska.

After refueling and passenger screenings, it left for the March Air Reserve Base. There, local officials began working with the CDC to thoroughly screen each passenger again following other screenings by American and Chinese health officials in Wuhan.
The CDC cleared all passengers, most of whom are American diplomatic corps or their families, to continue on to California, Alaska officials said.

Passengers were screened in an isolated area of the Anchorage airport's north terminal, which handles international flights, and had no impact on general travel, airport manager Jim Szczesniak said.

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Child at March Air Reserve Base quarantine hospitalized with fever
Patricia Kime
1 day ago

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/05/child-from-march-air-reserve-base-quarantine-hospitalized-with-fever/

A child among the 195 Americans quarantined at March Air Reserve Base in California has been hospitalized after developing a fever, but whether the youngster has the new coronavirus has yet to be determined.

Riverside County Department of Health officials said Tuesday that the child and a parent were taken to Riverside University Health System-Medical Center to be tested for the virus, which has infected more than 24,000 people in 25 countries and killed 492, mostly in China.

Results are expected later this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials say the child “is doing very well.”

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