This historic decision by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) – the first in 50 years – was announced not long after the agency mysteriously diverted the evacuation flight, which was originally supposed to land at Ontario International Airport near Corona, California, to nearby March Air Reserve Base in Riverside.
These individuals evacuated via a chartered Boeing jet are said to be mostly diplomats and other professionals who live in Wuhan. And in order to protect the general American public from potential infection, seeing as how coronavirus is contagious for a long time before symptoms emerge, they will need to stay in monitored isolation.
While the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) has been soft-peddling the situation and almost downplaying it, only reluctantly deciding after a fourth meeting, to declare a global coronavirus emergency, the C.D.C. says that the disease is spreading rapidly throughout China.
As it turns out, the C.D.C. has authorization under section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S. Code § 264) to mandate isolation and quarantine "to prevent the entry and spread of communicable diseases from foreign countries into the United States and between states."
The communicable diseases specifically listed in this section include cholera, diphtheria, infectious tuberculosis, plague, smallpox, yellow fever, viral hemorrhagic fevers, severe acute respiratory syndromes, and "flu that can cause a pandemic," the latter of which apparently includes coronavirus.
"Under 42 Code of Federal Regulations parts 70 and 71, C.D.C. is authorized to detain, medically examine, and release persons arriving into the United States and traveling between states who are suspected of carrying these communicable diseases," the C.D.C. website states.
"As part of its federal authority, C.D.C. routinely monitors persons arriving at U.S. land border crossings and passengers and crew arriving at U.S. ports of entry for signs or symptoms of communicable diseases."
White House considering further restrictions or ban on American travel to China
As this is all occurring, the White House is reportedly considering increased travel restrictions to China, or even a possible ban on all travel to China for Americans. The State Department also increased its travel advisory to a warning level four.
"Do not travel to China due to novel coronavirus first identified in Wuhan, China," the agency said in a statement. "Those currently in China should consider departing using commercial means."
This announcement came almost immediately after the W.H.O. declared a global emergency over coronavirus, which as of this writing has officially infected nearly 10,000 people and killed another 213 people.
Meanwhile, Iran has reportedly cut of all flights to and from China indefinitely to avoid a potential outbreak.
"That's right: Iran cancelled flights before the U.S.," pointed out Zero Hedge.
It's also important to note that a study just published in The Lancet estimates that closer to 75,800 people could be infected with novel coronavirus in Wuhan alone – a figure more than six times higher than the official count.
"The transmissibility of 2019-nCoV – or at least its geographical distribution – seems to be higher and broader than initially expected," this study contends.
"Why? Partly this may be because of China's rapid expansion of its transport networks, especially air and high-speed rail. Wuhan is a crucial hub: linking west to Chengdu, south to Guangzhou and Shenzhen, east to Nanjing and Shanghai, and north to Beijing. With much of December a period when the outbreak went unreported and unrecognised, the population exposed to the virus is far greater than first thought – a cause for heightened concern."
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