Skip to main content

CDC expands coronavirus screenings. What should travelers expect?

 

The novel coronavirus outbreak in China is spreading quickly, with a 60 percent increase in known cases (bringing the total to more than 4,500). There are currently five cases of coronavirus in the United States, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expanding screenings for the virus to 15 additional ports of entry, bringing the total to 20. Up until now, screenings were happening at five U.S. airports: JFK (New York City), San Francisco International, Los Angeles International, Hartsfield Jackson International (Atlanta), and O’Hare (Chicago).

Recommended Videos

For travelers arriving in the U.S. from China, the screenings will involve a questionnaire about their trip, any symptoms they may be experiencing, and contact information. CDC staff members will also screen for observable symptoms, taking the temperatures of travelers using handheld, non-contact thermometers. In past viral screenings (such as the 2014 Ebola outbreak), officials used handheld infrared thermometers, which can be held about 6 inches from the subject and are generally used to scan the temple or forehead.

We’ve reached out to the CDC for more specific information about what the screening procedures will look like for travelers, as well as the technology involved, and will update this story when we receive a response.

In a press conference on January 28, Alex Azar, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services,responded to questions about travel restrictions by saying that “it is important not to take anything off the table,” adding that such a move would depend on specific circumstances.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are working on three crucial approaches to dealing with the virus: Diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines.

“There is no proven therapy for coronavirus infection,” Fauci said, but added that “We have already started … on the development of a vaccine.”

The vaccine in question won’t roll out overnight. Fauci claimed that it will take three months to get to trial, and then another three months to collect necessary data before moving on to the next phase.

While many have drawn comparisons between the coronavirus outbreaks and the SARS coronavirus outbreak in China in 2002, CDC Director Robert Redfield cautioned against using lessons learned from that outbreak in dealing with this one.

“Although we know a lot about SARS … we don’t really know a lot about this one … We don’t know how this virus jumped to man.”

Azar emphasized that “at this point, Americans shouldn’t worry for their safety.” In response to reports that Americans are buying facial masks, the officials said such action is “unnecessary” and that tThe risk to any American individual is low.”

Will Nicol
Will Nicol is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends. He covers a variety of subjects, particularly emerging technologies, movies…
This modular Pebble and Apple Watch underdog just smashed funding goals
UNA Watch

Both the Pebble Watch and Apple Watch are due some fierce competition as a new modular brand, UNA, is gaining some serous backing and excitement.

The UNA Watch is the creation of a Scottish company that wants to give everyone modular control of smartwatch upgrades and repairs.

Read more
Tesla, Warner Bros. dodge some claims in ‘Blade Runner 2049’ lawsuit, copyright battle continues
Tesla Cybercab at night

Tesla and Warner Bros. scored a partial legal victory as a federal judge dismissed several claims in a lawsuit filed by Alcon Entertainment, a production company behind the 2017 sci-fi movie Blade Runner 2049, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit accused the two companies of using imagery from the film to promote Tesla’s autonomous Cybercab vehicle at an event hosted by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) Studios in Hollywood in October of last year.
U.S. District Judge George Wu indicated he was inclined to dismiss Alcon’s allegations that Tesla and Warner Bros. violated trademark law, according to Reuters. Specifically, the judge said Musk only referenced the original Blade Runner movie at the event, and noted that Tesla and Alcon are not competitors.
"Tesla and Musk are looking to sell cars," Reuters quoted Wu as saying. "Plaintiff is plainly not in that line of business."
Wu also dismissed most of Alcon's claims against Warner Bros., the distributor of the Blade Runner franchise.
However, the judge allowed Alcon to continue its copyright infringement claims against Tesla for its alleged use of AI-generated images mimicking scenes from Blade Runner 2049 without permission.
Alcan says that just hours before the Cybercab event, it had turned down a request from Tesla and WBD to use “an icononic still image” from the movie.
In the lawsuit, Alcon explained its decision by saying that “any prudent brand considering any Tesla partnership has to take Musk’s massively amplified, highly politicized, capricious and arbitrary behavior, which sometimes veers into hate speech, into account.”
Alcon further said it did not want Blade Runner 2049 “to be affiliated with Musk, Tesla, or any Musk company, for all of these reasons.”
But according to Alcon, Tesla went ahead with feeding images from Blade Runner 2049 into an AI image generator to yield a still image that appeared on screen for 10 seconds during the Cybercab event. With the image featured in the background, Musk directly referenced Blade Runner.
Alcon also said that Musk’s reference to Blade Runner 2049 was not a coincidence as the movie features a “strikingly designed, artificially intelligent, fully autonomous car.”

Read more
Apple TV+ just got a price slash that’s tough to resist, and it won’t last long
The Apple TV main screen.

Apple has just quietly announced that it will be slashing the price on its Apple TV+ offering for a limited time deal.

While Apple prices the service at a standard $9.99 per month usually, it has just cut that way down to $2.99 per month.

Read more