South Korean protesters used tractors to block access to facilities earmarked as quarantine centres in the cities of Asan and Jincheon on Wednesday.
A handful of protesters calling for the quarantine centre to be located further away from homes and schools in Jincheon gathered outside the site on Thursday.
“I am a mother of a 3-year-old and a 4-year-old,” said Lee Ji-hyun. “I was so worried I sent them to stay with my in-laws.”
President Moon Jae-in urged people not to give in to fear as the country prepared to evacuate the first of about 700 citizens from Wuhan.
“The weapons that will protect us from the new coronavirus are not fear and aversion but trust and cooperation,” Moon said.
Up to four planned South Korean evacuation flights to Wuhan are expected to begin later on Thursday.
elsewhere:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday that Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization is necessary to effectively fight the spread of a new coronavirus.
“It will be difficult to maintain health and prevent further infections in this region if (Taiwan) is excluded for political reasons,” Abe said during a parliamentary session. “We will continue to make our country’s stance clear at the WHO.”
Article on different countries attempts to extract their citizens from the Wuhan area and plans for quarantines or not. It indicates Japan, like USA, doesn’t have the legal authority to mandate a quarantine, they have to be voluntary. References to less powerful countries not having the “political clout” to have received permission yet from the Chinese govt to get their people out. Interesting to read the different responses.
Let me guess… Seasonal flu has such a relatively low mortality rate in the US because thank goodness the more vulnerable folks tend to be proactive and get a shot. The cavalier ones are generally younger and healthier, so they end up with 2-3 days of misery followed by a week of crud. Meanwhile:
The scary thing to me is that if the Coronavirus turns out to be as easily spread as the season flu viruses to which we’re accustomed we could see 10x or more the number of deaths we see with the seasonal flu. We have better health care in the US than in China but we also have big clusters of vulnerable people in nursing homes and senior living centers that I would expect to be hit hard if this thing gets out into the general population.
My son’s stepmom came home early (just landed in Seattle), but not due to the virus. The entire family is planning on heading back on 2/29 for a vacation and my Ex doesn’t seem too concerned, but he said they’ll see what it’s like in a few weeks.
@janiemiranda- Oops, I see my post was unclear. At first I wrote “wife/she” then changed it to the gender neutral “spouse/they” but that left the impression neither was in China.
You’re correct. One spouse traveled to China, came home with the virus and infected the spouse at home.
On npr this morning a doctor or public health type being interviewed “the virus is spread in the air.” Soooo does that mean the medical definition of airborne, or sneeze through the air? Said somewhat cavalierly without explanation. Seemed like a really big deal to me and wasn’t takes about.
It helps mobilize support - financial, political - around the world.
It helps coordinate a uniform and cooperative approach among countries of the world. Why have 200+ countries doing different things, different methodologies instead of cooperating together?
Somewhat related as I’m sure having WHO declare an International Emergency helps governments take actions like this:
"Japan plans to bring forward the date that the coronavirus will become a “designated infectious disease” to Saturday from February 7, public broadcaster NHK said.
Japanese health minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday that the government was considering moving up the date, without elaborating.
The government classified the virus as a designated infectious disease on Tuesday, a move that allows compulsory hospitalisation, stricter screening of people entering the country, and the use of public funds for treatment, among other measures. (Aljazeera)
Pilots union sues to temporarily stop U.S.-China flights
The Allied Pilots Association filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order to stop American Airlines service between the U.S. and China.
American currently runs 56 flights each month between Dallas and China, according to a statement announcing the lawsuit. The airline announced it would spend its flights between Los Angeles and China, but not until February 9. Each crewmember working a China flight is required to spend 32 hours on the ground in accordance with federal rest regulations, the statement said.
“We estimate that as many as 300 passengers and crew travel to DFW alone from Chinese cities on each American Airlines flight,” union president Captain Eric Ferguson said in the statement. “To us, that level of risk is unacceptable.”
“Due to the known and unknown risks associated with traveling to China right now, concurrent with the filing of our lawsuit, we are directing all American Airlines pilots assigned to flights between the United States and China, other than those on return trips to the United States, to decline the assignment,” Ferguson added.
American Airlines said in a statement that it is aware of the filing, and is working with the CDC to protect customers and employees. (CBS)
My note: Allied Pilots Association represents American Airlines crew only. Pilots at other airlines are represented by another union.
"The main reason for the World Health Organization declaring the coronavirus outbreak a global emergency wasn’t because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries, director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Thursday. “Our greatest concern is the potential for this virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems which are ill-prepared to deal with it,” he said.
He stressed that the move wasn’t a vote of no-confidence in China. “On the contrary, WHO continues to have the confidence in China’s capacity to control the outbreak,” he said."
My husband and I have talked about this. No reports at all from Central and South America. Very little from Africa. China has huge inroads in business and natural resources in many South American countries and hence, many business people from China traveling to and living there. Are there truly no cases there, have they just been lucky? Or is it the case of not having the resources to set up proper protocol? It benefits us all as global citizens to try to control the virus. An org like WHO can help facilitate that.
More from CBS, which seems to address my question posed a few posts up re: signing away your freedom re: quarantine, and in this case paying for it to get flown home.
"The U.S. government will charter additional flights to bring home Americans stuck in Wuhan, the central Chinese city at the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak.
“The Department of State will be staging additional evacuation flights with capacity for private U.S. citizens on a reimbursable basis, leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on or about February 3, 2020,” the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said in a statement released Thursday.
The Embassy urged any American nationals interested in securing a seat on one of the flights to send an email to a State Department address with basic personal details and passport information.
“Individuals who avail themselves of this transport will be subject to CDC screening, health observation, and monitoring requirements,” the embassy statement said, without providing further details."