42 passengers who boarded flights in China arrived on Guam Saturday afternoon and early this morning just hours before the novel coronavirus-related travel ban took place today at 8 am.
The ban prohibits entry to foreign citizens who have traveled to China within 14 days of their arrival to the U.S.Passengers from China.
19 passengers arrived on Guam Saturday from China and went to Guam through Japan or South Korea. Another 23 visitors from China arrived on Guam, Monday morning, also through Japan and South Korea.
According to Guam Airport Executive Director Tom Ada, the passengers were assessed upon arrival. Only the passengers who traveled to China were screened.
“They disembarked those passengers of interest and took them directly to the isolation area. Waiting over there were the officials from the Department of Public Health who held a screening to see if there were symptoms of the virus. None of the passengers who disembarked had any symptoms,” Ada said.
Customs and Border Protection officials also gathered information from these passengers, who were later released.
According to Public Health Director Linda DeNorcey, the agency will be monitoring the status of the passengers.
DeNorcey told K57’s Patti Arroyo in an interview that Public Health assessed each and every one of the “passengers of interest.”
“We did the clinical assessments and we did the epidemiological assessments. They are required by the CBP to fill out a traveler’s health declaration so that if they have any symptoms, they are going to monitored. They were also given a health card so they know who to call,” DeNorcey said.
According to Ada, the airlines are responsible for enforcing the federal travel ban by prohibiting banned passengers from boarding the plane. He said that this means that Guam’s airport should not be receiving any banned passengers in the future.
At this time, U.S. citizens who have been in Wuhan within the last 14 days returning to the U.S. will undergo 14 days of mandatory quarantine. U.S. citizens who have been in other areas of China in 14 days will be transferred to 11 airports throughout the U.S., where they will undergo extensive health monitoring and screening.
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