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A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 22 January 2020

Continued from Front it would add Chicago's
The virus can cause cough- O'Hare airport and Atlan-
ing, fever, breathing diffi- ta's airport to the mix later
culty and pneumonia. The this week.
U.S. joins a growing list of What's more, officials also
places outside mainland will begin forcing all pas-
China reporting cases, fol- sengers from Wuhan to go
lowing Thailand, Japan, to one of those five airports
South Korea and Taiwan. if they wish to enter the U.S.
Airports around the world The hospitalized U.S. resi-
have stepped up monitor- dent had no symptoms
ing, checking passengers when he arrived at the
from China for signs of ill- Seattle-Tacoma airport last
ness in hopes of containing Wednesday, but he started
the virus during the busy feeling ill on Thursday and
Lunar New Year travel sea- went to a doctor on Sunday
son. with a fever and a cough,
Late last week, U.S. health officials said. Lab testing on
officials began screening Monday confirmed he had
passengers from Wuhan the virus.
in central China, where "The gentleman right now
the outbreak began. The is very healthy," Dr. Nancy
screening had been under- Messonnier of the CDC said
way at three U.S. airports Tuesday.
— New York City's Kennedy The hospital, Providence
airport and the Los Angeles Regional Medical Center
and San Francisco airports. in Everett, said in a state-
On Tuesday, the U.S. Cen- ment that it expected the
ters for Disease Control and man would remain in isola-
Prevention announced tion and under monitoring
People wear face masks as they ride an escalator at the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong
Kong, Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020.
Associated Press

there at least until Thursday. deaths — all in China, most and MERS — Middle East
CDC officials said they sent of them age 60 or older, in- respiratory syndrome — as
a team to Washington to cluding at least some who well as influenza, bird flu,
try to track down people had a previous medical adenovirus and other com-
who might have come in condition. mon lung-infecting germs.
contact with the man. The Officials have said the vi- The new virus so far does not
hospital also said it was rus probably spread from appear to be as deadly as
contacting "the small num- animals to people, but this SARS and MERS, but viruses
ber of staff and patients" week Chinese officials said can sometimes mutate to
who may have been with they've concluded it also become more dangerous.
the man at a clinic. can spread from person to University of Washington
The man is originally from person. Health authorities coronavirus researcher Da-
central China, lives alone this month identified the vid Veesler said the public
in the U.S. and made the germ behind the outbreak "should not be panicking
trip solo, officials said. There as a new type of corona- right now."
were relatively few people virus. Coronaviruses are a The response has been
who came in contact with large family of viruses, some "very efficient," Veesler
him since he got back, of which cause the com- said. "In a couple of weeks,
health officials said. mon cold; others found China was able to iden-
Last month, doctors in Wu- in bats, camels and other tify the virus, isolate it, se-
han began seeing the new animals have evolved into quence it and share that
virus in people who got sick more severe illnesses. information."
after spending time at a SARS, or severe acute respi- Veesler added: "We don't
wholesale seafood market. ratory syndrome, belongs have enough data to
More than 275 cases of the to the coronavirus family, judge how severe the dis-
newly identified virus have but Chinese state media ease is."
been confirmed in China, say the illness in Wuhan is The CDC's Messonnier said
most of them in Wuhan, ac- different from coronavirus- health officials expected to
cording to the World Health es that have been identi- see more cases in the U.S.
Organization. fied in the past. Earlier lab- and around the world in
The count includes six oratory tests ruled out SARS the coming days.q