The first confirmed US case of Wuhan virus showed up in Washington state. Surprised? Neither were we
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is often hailed as a major gateway to the Pacific Rim, and its growth certainly bears that out -- with new flights to Asia added regularly and construction of a new billion-dollar international arrival facility well underway.
And yet Sea-Tac, curiously, wasn’t one of three US airports designated for coronavirus screenings last week, despite regular daily flights to and from China and numerous easy connecting flights to the city of Wuhan, where the disease originated.
Should we be surprised that the first domestic case of coronavirus has now surfaced in Washington state in a man who visited Wuhan? No. And it’s troubling to us that authorities didn’t have screeners in place here to try and catch the newest strain.
Screening for this latest outbreak of a severe acute respiratory syndrome is a federal responsibility, and the feds must redouble efforts to treat Sea-Tac as the dynamic international airport that it is. As many as 736 people come through Sea-Tac each day by way of two direct flights from China.
The virus has already jumped borders and continents; it’s been identified in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, Taiwan, the US and possibly Australia. At least 17 people have died.
Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and the Department of Homeland Security chose to target passengers arriving at airports in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York.
After the diagnosis of the Washington state man, the CDC and DHS expanded entry health screenings to Chicago and Atlanta. All travelers from Wuhan will now be directed through these five airports.
Unfortunately, the vigilance didn’t come soon enough. The first American carrier of coronavirus has fallen ill and is isolated in a hospital in Everett in reportedly good condition. The CDC now has a team deployed in our state; it is tracing the 30-year-old man’s close contacts to determine if anyone else was infected.
Beyond posting some warning signs at international arrival gates, federal officials have chosen not to ramp up coronavirus surveillance at Sea-Tac. That seems surprising, given that Sea-Tac is the eighth-busiest airport in the US and one of the fastest-growing large hub airports in the country. Last spring it added two nonstop flights to Japan and one to Hong Kong.
The timing for this new virus with pneumonia-like symptoms couldn’t be worse. Now is the Chinese New Year season, when millions of people travel the globe to celebrate with family and friends.
Since Dec. 31, when the respiratory illness first presented in the city of 11 million people in Central China, at least 15 medical workers have tested positive, which strongly indicates human-to-human transmission.
Airport screening won’t completely stop the spread of a coronavirus, which typically has a week-long incubation period, but temperature checks at airport gates and aboard planes could identify high-risk patients.
Perry Cooper, an airport spokesman, told a member of our Editorial Board that design of its new International Arrivals Facility — scheduled to open this fall with a capacity of 2,600 passengers per hour — includes crisis planning. “Should we need to hold a plane full of people, we have the space.”
As for increased screening tools to identify sick people on a plane, Cooper said that’s up to the CDC.
Meantime, Washingtonians should heed the advice of Gov. Jay Inslee and others: Don’t panic. The CDC believes the coronavirus risk to the American public remains low at this time.
Frankly, the public should be more frightened of the flu; it’s killed 6,600 people in the US between Oct. 1 and Jan. 11, according to the CDC — and flu season isn’t over.
Still, a global pandemic is nothing to brush off. It should serve as a reminder to travelers, airports and government agencies that the worst enemies are often ones we can’t see.
And it should be a wake-up call that Washington ranks high among places where an infectious infiltrator is likely to show up first.
This story was originally published January 23, 2020 at 5:30 AM.