SFO starts coronavirus screenings as new US case confirmed

Passengers arriving at San Francisco International Airport from Wuhan, China, are being screened for a new strain of the coronavirus, airport officials announced as the first U.S. cases in Seattle and Friday in Chicago increased concern of the spread of the potentially deadly virus.

The measures are meant to prevent the spread of the new virus in Northern California, including Sacramento.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are screening passengers traveling nonstop from Wuhan to San Francisco along with connecting passengers who began their travel in Wuhan. San Francisco International is one of only two U.S. airports with nonstop flights from Wuhan. New York's Kennedy International Airport is the other.

“This is an emerging and rapidly developing situation,” SFO officials said in their Friday statement. The new strain of the coronavirus can cause severe respiratory infections like pneumonia.

Officials at the nation's seventh-busiest airport Friday announced the screenings on the airport's website, www.flysfo.com. Passengers will be screened inside SFO's customs facility. Passengers from Wuhan who connected at other airports before arriving in San Francisco will also be screened.

How are passengers checked?

Passengers have their temperature taken as part of the health screenings and are asked to complete a questionnaire outlining symptoms. Travelers with a fever, cough or other symptoms undergo further assessment.

Inbound flights from Wuhan to San Francisco are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays - about 150 passengers on average are aboard the Wuhan-to-San Francisco flights, according to airport officials.

The alerts at SFO are having no effect on operations at Sacramento International Airport - an airport without service to China, said airport spokeswoman Samantha Mott.

“We're not a first point of entry,” Mott said Friday. “We're monitoring the situation and (Sacramento County's) public health office is involved in getting updates from California Department of Public Health, but it has not affected our operations.”

Neither are travel alerts in place at Oakland International Airport, which also does not offer service to China; but officials there are monitoring the evolving situation, said Mike Zampa, a Port of Oakland spokesman.

“We're following the usual protocols and taking the lead of the CDC. We're following the issue closely,” Zampa said.

Current known cases

The San Francisco travel alert came as health officials Friday confirmed a second case in Chicago - a woman who returned to Illinois Jan. 15 from Wuhan and experienced symptoms several days later, the CDC announced Friday. The woman is hospitalized in stable condition in an isolation room, according to the CDC's statement.

Friday's confirmation came days after a Washington state man who returned to Seattle on Jan. 15 from Wuhan became the first reported U.S. case of new coronavirus. The man is being treated at a Seattle-area hospital, according to news reports.

Officials in China have shut down transport within and out of Wuhan including its international airport and the CDC is strongly recommending travelers avoid all non-essential travel to the Chinese city.

“We expect more cases to be confirmed,” CDC officials said in an earlier alert to travelers. “Person-to-person spread is occurring though it's unclear how easily this virus is spreading between people at this time.”

CDC screenings will also start at JFK and at Los Angeles International Airport which has a large number of connecting passengers, say airport officials. CDC officials will also add entry health screenings at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

How to keep yourself safe

The CDC issued updated recommendations for travelers to affected areas, which includes avoiding contact with ill people, animals (alive or dead) and animal markets.

Health officials encourage older individuals and those with underlying illness to check with their provider before traveling, as those groups seem to be more at risk among the cases seen so far.

Travelers are also encouraged to monitor closely updates from public health officials.

No vaccine or specific treatment for 2019-nCoV infection is available.

Public health general guidelines to help minimize exposure to coronaviruses, influenza and other winter viruses:

? Avoid contact with people with cold or flu-like symptoms

? Practice frequent hand hygiene with soap and water or alcohol-based cleanser

? People with symptoms of acute respiratory infection should practice cough etiquette(maintain distance, cover coughs and sneezes with disposable tissues or into a flexed elbow, and wash hands)

? Keep all immunizations up to date

Public health asked people to self-monitor for illness, especially anyone who has traveled to China.

For more information, visit the CDC website at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/summary.html, or call 1-800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348

The Modesto Bee's ChrisAnna Mink contributed to this report.