In today's fast-paced world, people travel globally, making it much harder to keep a virus localized. That fact of life has recently been driven home by efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus outbreak, which began in Wuhan, China.
Last week, Chinese officials shut down travel to and from Wuhan as well as two neighboring cities and canceled Lunar New Year celebrations in an attempt to prevent coronavirus from spreading.
However, despite their efforts, at least 1,975 people have been infected, more than 80 have died and five cases have been confirmed here in the United States. There are two confirmed cases in California and one each in Arizona, Illinois and Washington state and more than 50 cases under investigation elsewhere in the U.S. There are also a small number of confirmed cases diagnosed in Australia, France and several Asian nations, including Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and South Korea.
"All U.S. cases traveled from Wuhan, China," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told USA TODAY in a statement. "More cases may be identified. However, (the) risk to US general public is still considered low."
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Southwest Airlines scare
Southwest Airlines, which does not fly to or from China, confirmed to USA TODAY that a passenger on a flight from Las Vegas to Baltimore was evaluated by local health workers upon arrival in Maryland Saturday.
"Local medical personnel met Flight 2889 once it arrived at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport from Las Vegas on Saturday due to reports of an ill customer," Southwest spokesman Dan Landson said in a statement to USA TODAY. "Out of an abundance of caution, and in light of the recent concerns of the coronavirus, our Crew followed recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control for responding to concerns to ensure the customer, and those traveling with them, receive the assistance or support they may need."
Later, Maryland Department of Health spokeswoman Maureen C. Regan told USA TODAY that although the passenger had recently been to Beijing, the person did not meet the CDC's criteria for a positive diagnosis and was released.
How can passengers and airline crews protect themselves from coronavirus?
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe infections such as pneumonia, Middle East respiratory syndrome (known as MERS) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Initial symptoms of the virus include fever, cough and difficulty breathing. But in more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, kidney failure or death
One of the first lines of defense is the monitoring of passengers and crew flying in from areas where the virus is active. The 2019-nC0V virus has caused the United States and several other countries to begin this monitoring process.
The CDC has set up screening centers at five major U.S. airports (Los Angeles International, San Francisco International, Chicago O'Hare, New York JFK and Atlanta) to check passengers arriving from the affected region in China. The CDC has also published a list of precautions for travelers.
More: How to stay healthy on a plane as coronavirus, flu, colds raise travel concerns
Because most coronaviruses are spread through airborne droplets (sneezing or coughing), touching or touching an infected surface, hand washing is an effective way of reducing the potential for infection.
While the CDC does not discourage healthy people from wearing surgical masks as a precaution, the agency is only recommending their use for patients thought to have the virus and the medical professionals who interact with them.
American Airlines said Friday that it had agreed to allow flight attendants to wear surgical masks if they are working on flights to Hong Kong, Beijing or Shanghai, following a call from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants for more crew safeguards.
If a passenger experiences symptoms of the virus, which is officially known as 2019-nCoV, he or she is advised to call ahead to their doctor or emergency room and then seek medical attention immediately. If infected, the person or she should be isolated, wear a face mask and frequently wash their hands to reduce the likelihood of spreading the virus.
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What we've learned from past viral outbreaks
Outbreaks of contagious viruses require careful monitoring by all flight operations, regulators and the World Health Organization.
In 2002 and 2003, there was a large outbreak of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which originated in Asia and resulted in flight disruptions, the monitoring of passengers and the detention of people that were potentially exposed to the virus. Sound familiar?
That's because many flight operations teams updated their procedures for future epidemics or pandemics based on what they learned from the SARS epidemic. (An epidemic is when large numbers of people are infected at the same time in an area, which may spread to the wider world. A pandemic is when an epidemic spreads throughout the world. As of late last week, the World Health Organization said coronavirus does not yet represent a pandemic.)
Ultimately, SARS did not become a pandemic, either. However, it did infect more than 8,000 people and the CDC attributed more than 700 deaths to the virus.
The spread of the SARS virus made it necessary for airlines and other flight operations centers to quickly coordinate with local health authorities in order to know how to effectively react. Those team efforts didn't always go smoothly.
Today, there are better procedures in place because their emergency response plans include checklists and processes for dealing with potential epidemics and pandemics. Accordingly, airlines and other flight operations teams are carefully monitoring passengers for signs of any spread of this virus and reporting possible cases to the CDC and local public health officials.
Should coronavirus become more widespread, more airports could be affected. But the reality is it's still too early to tell what the extent of 2019-nCoV will be. In the meantime, we all can be aware of the symptoms, pay attention to the news and follow the CDC's guidelines and situation reports.
U.S. State Department: Don't travel to Wuhan; airlines issue travel waivers for China
Coronavirus: What airlines and airports are doing to stop the virus from spreading
John Cox is a retired airline captain with US Airways and runs his own aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems.
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