195 Quarantined in California After Fleeing Coronavirus Epicenter

Sources such as AP, and ABC have alleged that upwards to 600 American citizens and their spouses, and children were left behind in the Wuhan area. Either unable to find transportation to the outbound flight. Or, unable to communicate with American authorities in China, who wouldn't answer phones or email. Not permitted to bring spouses and children because of bureaucratic red tape, some were forced to stay behind. This outbreak is terrifying because Mr Trumps American is not science based. Mr Trumps American is based on a faith that only those that help Mr Trump fawn over himself will be helped. Science save us, because Mr Trump and his demagoguery. will not

The death rate reported by China has remained fixed at two percent of the reported new cases, so far. That is very suspicious. It could be that China is managing the information to manage public perceptions. If so, nobody should listen to them but focus on information that is honestly reported, and plan accordingly.

The Trump Administration has made sure American is less protected for any public health crisis with huge cuts to the CDC and more in 2020 Budget. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/31/us-coronavirus-budget-cuts-trump-underprepared

Virtually all other countries have been quarantining returnees for 2 weeks, not 3 days; what is peculiar is that the US kept saying the returnees would be held for only 3 days.

I am perplexed at all of the information shared in the comments to this article that are presented as facts, when we readers have absolutely no way to assess the credentials of the commenters making these assertions. Be careful.

You know, the way China is reacting, now the US. It seems to be more to this, than what they are telling. There's an abundance of caution, and then there is a cover up of something far worse.

Fascinating that we want to lock up people we have never met for fourteen days, and disrupt the word economy to slow the progress of this virus and still support cutting the funding of the CDC that can and has in the past shut down the spread of disease. Does Daniel Kahneman still stand by his assertion that mankind is rational?

The majority of them work for the federal government. I’m sure they will treated well at a US military base and receive more than adequate food and use of personal hygiene facilities. I can’t say the same for the families who are being torn apart and separated at our southern border.

There is a back story to this evacuation that seems to have escaped the attention of the media. In a related NYT article earlier today, one of the US evacuees quarantined for 2 weeks at March Air Reserve Base described the flight: “They were trying to keep us calm, but they had these guys covered from head to toe taking your temperature. It felt like a C.I.A. cargo plane.” The plane used was in fact a windowless 747 cargo plane into which rows of passenger seats had been inserted. The airline, Kalitta Air, was formed in 1967 during the time the US was using off-brand airlines, some of them funded or hired by the CIA or DoD, to transport weapons, personnel and materiel in the Vietnam theater and Asian. Kalitta continues to carry cargo for the US government and others, with regular destinations including Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan; Guantanamo, Cuba; Medellin, Colombia; Osan Air Base, South Korea; and two UK air bases. Kalitta Air also serves non-military airports. Other nations evacuating their citizens from China are using regular passenger airliners rather than cargo planes, which makes one wonder why the US government chose to take the extra time needed to re-fit a cargo plane, and whether such a plane will be used when the US evacuates more citizens from China in the next week. While an interesting story lurks somewhere in the details, all of us of course owe Kalitta thanks for rescuing our fellow Americans from the hot zone of the coronavirus outbreak.

Is it my imagination or are the powers that be pulling out all the stops for this virus, and at the same time telling us it's not that dangerous?

No one was fleeing. These folks left on a plane chartered by the United States. For no good reason. They could have stayed where they were. Now 330,000,000 people are at risk because 195 people did not want to be inconvenienced.

This is a new strain of pneumonia, no more, no less. Transmission and mortality rates are no different than other strains of pneumonia which kills millions world wide every year. The hysteria over a disease that can no longer be contained benefits no one.

I can't help but wondering if this virus has already spread far and wide. Many of us in Oregon have been dealing with a nasty "cold" virus that lingers. When my wife went to the doctor she was given a breathing treatment, told she likely had a virus, and sent home with an inhaler prescription. No tests or screening yet she had the symptoms listed. One has to wonder....

There is a lot of second guessing going on by many who have the luxury of hindsight. Already, we have sequenced the virus, have a rapid test for it, and know how it is spread. We also know that a certain number of cases are relatively minor and a crude death rate. This is because of superb global epidemiologists and not because of thoughts and prayers. Think of that next November when you vote for reps and Senators, as well as president. This knowledge is valuable and only if we decide in this country it is worthwhile, will we continue to have it. I was in the first Sabin vaccine cohort, after I got the Salk vaccine. I'm alive today probably because of that, vaccines, and penicillin for my multiple strep throats.

Think of this from the view of an informed citizen who may have been in contact with an infected individual. The probability that they are infected is VERY low (each infected person has hundreds of contacts with known or unknown people yet infects only 2-3 people on average). Even if they have been infected, there is less than 20% chance of serious illness and less than 2% chance of death. If they were among those extremely, extremely unlucky people, the medical system cannot help them much anyway. So being “found” and diagnosed has no real upside for that person (except for helping others). Mandatory and excessive jailing of people who may have been infected creates a huge downside to being found and diagnosed with this virus. If you have an important business, family or personal event coming up within the next few weeks will you come forward to a certain 2 weeks in jail – even if there is a less than 1% chance that you have the virus. Even if you had the virus you could take precautions against transferring it to your loved ones. If we give mandatory 2 weeks jail to anybody who may be infected we will make it very hard to get the transmission rate down below 1.0 and we will almost certainly end up with a real epidemic and a serious problem.

Better 14 days than the chance of 14 (or whatever the number may turn out to be) more infected and continuing the cycle.

That's as it should be. I'd be upset, too, if I had to remain in quarantine with other possible infected passengers. But there is far bigger picture developing here. Apart from the fact that 2 weeks is very short in the scheme of things, letting people free based on only 2 days of quarantine ignores that 1 or 2 people may come down ill later. There seems to be no mention of how these passengers would be released and physically taxied home. If given the possibility that only one person, who didn't show symptoms at the time, eventually sickens, that entire household, house, utensils, furniture, clothing and anything they touched, symbolizes a fresh ground zero. If only for 2 days, why do it at all?

The 14 days are the maximum for how long it takes from exposure, before a person show actual symptoms. However we have molecular techniques that can detect just a single viral particle (long before they have enough virus to be symptomatic). To hold everybody locked up for 14 days is an absurd overreach. This is populist panic over scientific knowledge - I am sure that order came from the White House. If it was simply just the matter of holding a small number of (this time white) people in cages for a few weeks the damage would be limited - and possibly even justified to control mass hysteria breaking out amongst the ignorant masses. But a much larger danger comes from the fact that anybody who are convinced they have something important the MUST come home for will now attempt to get around public health care. The last thing we want is a group of potentially infected people doing all they can to hide from the doctors.