● As visitors arrive, Miami airport begins coronavirus screening,
Miami International Airport is screening travelers for potential cases of novel coronavirus under the direction of federal health officials as the epidemic spreads rapidly across China.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine station at MIA added additional screening for the virus starting Monday. The station is one of 20 at ports and land border crossings across the country.
The move comes as Miami anticipates a crush of tourists arriving for the Feb. 2 Super Bowl and as confirmed cases of the virus intensify, popping up in nearly every major Chinese city.
A spokesperson for Miami International Airport said Tuesday that the quarantine station is not a physical facility, but refers to dedicated CDC staffing at the airport because of the volume of international travelers. A spokesperson for the CDC confirmed the Miami airport screening for coronavirus.
There are five confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S. so far, but none of them are in Florida. The CDC stressed on Tuesday that no person-to-person spread has been detected in the U.S. at this time, although that is a possibility that the agency is trying to prevent.
As of Monday, the CDC reported 32 U.S. cases that tested negative for novel coronavirus and 73 that were pending results, in addition to the 5 confirmed cases.
The CDC first started entry screening at five U.S. airports last week, on Friday: San Francisco, New York JFK and Los Angeles International Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson airport and Chicago
O’Hare airport.
Ivan Gonzalez, associate professor at the University of Miami and an infectious disease physician, said on Friday that he and other health professionals had already set up screening protocols at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami in case anyone comes in with symptoms that resemble the disease.
Miami is in the midst of a particularly bad flu season, Gonzalez also noted, saying that could complicate detection of coronavirus because the symptoms are extremely similar. He said that staff members at Jackson will be screening for anyone who has traveled to China, Thailand or other countries that have a high number of cases.
Coronaviruses commonly cause illnesses in people, typically after being circulated among animals, but the viruses rarely evolve to spread between people. One notable example is the global SARS outbreak, which caused 774 deaths in 17 countries from 2002 to 2004, according to the World Health Organization.