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U.S. government officials warned Americans on Monday to avoid unnecessary travel to China as the country grapples with a deadly coronavirus outbreak. Airlines and cruise lines are responding to travel restrictions, and travelers who choose to go to China should be ready for the possibility that the Chinese government could curtail their movements with little warning, U.S. State Department officials said.
“Right now it’s very early in the course for this, so it’s unclear how contagious [this coronavirus] will be with routine public-health measures that China and other countries are applying,” Scott Weisenberg, a clinical associate professor of medicine and director of NYU Langone Health’s travel medicine program, told MarketWatch.
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The new coronavirus was first detected in China’s Wuhan City, a transportation and manufacturing hub, with cases later reported in the U.S. and several other countries including Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Vietnam and Singapore. This strain of coronavirus had killed 106 people in China as of Monday, and Chinese officials reported there had been 4,500 confirmed cases. The U.S. had at least five confirmed coronavirus patients, all of whom had recently traveled from Wuhan.
While officials’ efforts to control the virus’s spread will hopefully succeed, it’s “too soon to say right now” whether that will be the case, he said.
What U.S. government agencies have told American travelers
The U.S. State Department urged travelers to “reconsider travel to China” in a travel advisory Monday, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised travelers to avoid all nonessential travel to China. China had earlier placed Wuhan and several surrounding cities under a travel ban that spanned air, rail and public transport.
Travelers should be aware that China’s government could keep them from entering or leaving parts of Hubei province, which includes capital Wuhan, and “be prepared for travel restrictions to be put into effect with little or no advance notice,” the department added. China has also suspended all overseas tour group and package flight/hotel vacation packages.
Airlines are waiving some flight-change fees
Officials are screening travelers for the virus at airports in five major U.S. cities to which flights from Wuhan had been routed, according to the Associated Press: New York’s JFK Airport, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and San Francisco. The CDC is also increasing its staff at 20 U.S. airports to expand its screening efforts, the Washington Post reported Monday night; those airports receive 90% of air travelers from China, Vice President Mike Pence said.
A number of airlines are accommodating travelers who want to reschedule China-related travel plans. American Airlines AAL, +1.32% said it would allow passengers who were traveling to, through or from Beijing or Shanghai and wanted to reschedule their trip to waive a change fee, given certain stipulations. The airline will also waive change fees for passengers who want to delay their trip up to a year from the original ticket date, with the possibility of paying a difference in fare.
Delta Air Lines DAL, +0.81% said it would waive change fees for passengers traveling to, through or from Beijing or Shanghai who made a one-time change to a different flight. Travelers can also cancel their trip and apply the unused value to a future flight for up to a year.
United Airlines UAL, +0.75% also issued travel waivers in response to the outbreak, including refunds for unflown flights to Wuhan, and is waiving change fees for certain flights related to the Beijing, Chengdu and Shanghai airports, with some restrictions. Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific CPCAY, -4.71% said it would waive rebooking, rerouting and refund charges for bookings to and from mainland China on certain conditions; German airline Lufthansa DLAKY, +1.94%, meanwhile, is allowing certain passengers free rebooking or refunds for their flights in and out of mainland China.
Some cruise lines are canceling trips
The cruise lines Costa Cruises, Royal Caribbean RCL, +1.22% and MSC Cruises have collectively canceled at least a dozen trips to and from China in response to the outbreak, according to a Monday roundup by the cruise-review site Cruise Critic, a subsidiary of TripAdvisor TRIP, +0.12%.
Norwegian Cruise Line NCLH, +0.81% is reportedly also denying boarding to people who have traveled from Wuhan or been there in the past month, as well as to people embarking from Chinese ports who display a temperature of at least 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit on a non-touch temperature screening, according to Cruise Critic.
A number of Chinese tourist sites have temporarily closed
Several top historical and tourist attractions in China, including the Forbidden City, a stretch of the Great Wall of China near Beijing, Shanghai Disney Resort DIS, +0.38%, the National Library of China and the National Museum of China, have closed as officials try to stem the spread of coronavirus, The Wall Street Journal reported.
McDonald’s MCD, +0.72% had closed its stores in Wuhan as of Friday, the Journal reported, while Starbucks SBUX, -0.47% extended its earlier Wuhan closings to all Hubei province stores.
What to do if you have to travel to China
U.S. travelers who still must travel to China should “remain alert” and discuss their travel plans with a health-care provider; avoid contact with people who are sick; stay away from dead or live animals, animal markets and animal products like raw meat; and frequently clean hands using soap and water (for at least 20 seconds) or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the CDC said. Older travelers and those with underlying health problems could be at greater risk for disease, the agency added.
“Person-to-person spread is occurring in China,” the CDC said. “The extent of person-to-person spread outside of China is unclear at this time.”
The CDC also offered guidance for people who had traveled to Hubei Province in the past two weeks and had symptoms of cough, fever or difficulty breathing: Avoid contact with other people, call ahead to the doctor or emergency room and seek medical attention immediately, avoid travel, cover your nose and mouth area with a sleeve or tissue while sneezing or coughing, and practice frequent hand-washing.
Official recommendations could change at any time
There’s a lot that public-health officials still don’t know about this virus, and the CDC’s recommendations are likely to evolve quickly, Weisenberg told MarketWatch.
With that said, travelers who do still travel to China should take some precautions, he said: “I would wash my hands regularly, and I would try to avoid people who seem to have fever or who are coughing — or at least stay a few feet away from them.”
