Here is the link to the CDC and their current advisory, just updated.
They have changed a few things. They now recommend NO travel to all of China.
They have also changed the advisory to include if you have been to China in the past 14 days, not just Wuhan. That was way too slow in coming. CDC.
Tick Tick Tick
From the CDC:
If you were in China in the last 14 days and feel sick with fever, cough, or difficulty breathing, you should:
- Seek medical care right away. Before you go to a doctor’s office or emergency room, call ahead and tell them about your recent travel and your symptoms.
- Avoid contact with others.
- Not travel while sick.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when coughing or sneezing.
- Wash hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/warning/novel-coronavirus-china
Tick, tick, tick is right. I learned years back from their antiquated directives to doctors and the public on Lymes Disease that the CDC can be woefully slow on issues. They are too big and too political. Even this latest directive is not going to stop the spread of this epidemic by people who are asymptomatic.
For over ten years, I have always used antibacterial wipes to clean plane seats, trays, seatbelts and basically every place around my seat that I would touch. My husband used to be embarrassed, but now I just pass the cleaning wipe to him and off we go. Now we keep hand sanitizer in our cars and use that when we are out and about.
When visiting family in Sydney years ago, we adopted their practice of going straight to the sink to wash our hands as soon as we came home. We still do that today. It sounds germaphobic and a tad neurotic, but who cares? We very seldom get sick
Thank you for your back-up. Lifted my inclination towards a bit of self deprecation.
We keep the wipes and pump hand sanitizers in our cars too. But when we all dig out our bottles or wipes in public people have stared more than a bit. And on an airplane I'm quite entertaining as well, as I try to inconspicuously sanitize my tray and arm rests.
I carry gloves and a simple face mask just in case and if anyone were to start coughing around me I'd probably put the mask on and my husband would just have to pretend he didnt know me.
I just have no words for the situation or our current administration.
The Dangerfield family of five from Arizona traveled to Wuhan for Chinese New Year celebrations and had planned on staying for a month. Then everything went south and they got stuck in Wuhan when the borders closed. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department ordered a chartered flight for a limited number of private citizens to get back to the United States. While the Dangerfield family was chosen by our government to be on that flight, , the only people allowed to board were Dangerfield and his three children ages 7 months-age 5 . Dangerfield's wife, who is a permanent US resident but not a naturalized citizen, was denied permission to board the flight.
With minutes to decide, the Dangerfields decided to stay in Wuhan together as a family. His wife is from Wuhan and they are staying with her family.
This is a very possible life and death decision this family had to make. Unbelievable.
The number of confirmed cases of the Wuhan coronavirus has overtaken the 2003 SARS outbreak inside of mainland China, as the virus was confirmed to have spread to every province and region in the country.
Also worth noting:
-Australia has unveiled plans to evacuate some of its nationals from Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province, flying the most “isolated and vulnerable” of 600 citizens to quarantine on Christmas Island for up to 14 days.
-In a joint operation with New Zealand, which has about 50 citizens in the city at the epicentre of the global coronavirus outbreak, Australians will be evacuated from the locked-down city on a “last-in first-out” basis.
-The US evacuation flight has been diverted to March Air Force Airbase instead of landing in Ontario, CA. .
-A photo of a pilot for an evacuation aircraft is in what looks like a white fabric hazmat suit and mask and sitting in the cockpit.
-Papua New Guinea has banned all travellers from entering the country from “Asian ports”, according to Agence France-Presse. In a note to airlines and boat operators, the ministry of immigration said “all citizens originating from the Asian ports will be refused entry to the country effective today”.The ministry also announced that Papua New Guinea’s only official land border – with Indonesian-controlled Papua province – would be shut from Thursday.
I am going to keep updating information here because his is a situation that keeps evolving and quickly. I think we can learn a lot about how serious things are or aren't by observing how countries are reacting and what scientists are learning about the virus.
-British Airways has suspended bookings on its website for direct flights from London to Beijing and Shanghai until March, after warnings over travel to China due to the coronavirus outbreak. Finnair has also suspended flights.
-As things continue to worsen over there, what impact will be felt economically?
-As of the writing of this post, the last time the CDC updated US Novel -Coronavirus numbers was 1-27-20. There were 73 cases pending. There was no update on Tuesday 28th of January.