Posted on 04/08/2003 5:35:06 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
WASHINGTON – U.S. health officials have advised airport immigration inspectors to admit foreign travelers from Asian countries hit hard by a deadly new pneumonia bug – even if they show symptoms of infection, U.S. inspectors complain.
"A good 90 percent of all passengers arriving from Asia are wearing face masks during the flights that arrive here," said a Bureau of Customs and Border Protection inspector at Los Angeles International Airport, which gets heavy Asian traffic. "Yet there are basically no safeguards set up at the airport to safeguard against the spread of germs here."
He told WorldNetDaily that LAX, the nation's fourth-busiest airport, has no quarantine area set up at any of its four international terminals to detain and isolate passengers with symptoms related to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, which has now killed more than 100 people and infected some 2,600 in 20 countries. China's southern Guangdong province, which includes Hong Kong, is believed to be the source of the virus, which has about an eight-to-10-day incubation period.
"We are not detaining any persons and requiring them to submit to any test prior to being admitted to the United States," said the officer. In a meeting last week, he and other inspectors were briefed about the fast-spreading virus by Health and Human Services Department officials assigned to LAX.
Travelers from Asia with signs of the illness, such as fever or breathing difficulties, are asked by federal health officials at the airport to fill out a form with their name and the address where they will be staying, as well as other information, he explains. They are then simply advised to see a doctor for testing, and allowed to enter the U.S.
The information is forwarded to the federal Centers for Disease Control.
"The are doing a numbers game only," the LAX inspector said.
CDC personnel have inspected certain flights from Asia after passengers have deplaned, he says.
"But there has been no instance where anyone has been detained or isolated due to any symptoms," he said.
An HHS spokeswoman here referred questions to the CDC in Atlanta, which did not immediately return phone calls.
A U.S. immigration officer at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, the nation's busiest, says a Chinese passenger recently was detained there after exhibiting signs of SARS, but was released after health officials determined that she was not infected with the virus. O'Hare over the past year has seen a surge in undocumented nationals from mainland China.
"She apparently just had a cold," the officer told WorldNetDaily.
He says public health officials have met Asian passengers at the gates to quiz them about symptoms they may be experiencing, while handing out information about SARS and local clinics.
Authorities in Thailand, in contrast, have subjected all foreign travelers, including Americans, to medical examinations upon entering airports there, while imposing strict quarantines on travelers diagnosed with SARS.
Airport authorities there and in other Asian countries have started wearing surgical gloves and masks.
Federal inspectors at O'Hare are wearing neither protective gear, but LAX inspectors have been advised by federal health officials to wear gloves while handling passports and other documents.
"We were told to wash our hands frequently and to wear gloves in the handling of documents," he said.
However, "we are not allowed to wear face masks during an inspection," based on orders from immigration supervisors, he added.
The SARS virus is believed to be spread by air, through coughing and sneezing, as well as by contact.
"We were told under no circumstances would we be allowed to wear face masks while in uniform," he said. "If someone coughs or spits up, we were told to call the floor rover or supervisor and have that person escorted to Public Health."
In lieu of the masks, a few inspectors have purchased small table fans to direct air away from their booths, he says.
Though still a medical mystery, SARS has a relatively low death rate of 4 percent. By comparison, at least a quarter of a million people around the world die from the common flu each year.
No.
Any second sources confirming this?
I'll ping you if I find one.
Hypothetically speaking, if the article is in fact accurate, what would be your thoughts?
Well there are four primary questions that need answering before we start testing incoming passengers for SARS:
Is there even a SARS test?
Not really. The U.S. CDC can confirm it if you give them two weeks for testing. Various other tests can be done much quicker, but they have a high false negative rate.
How long does the test take? Too long to wait.
What's the incubation period before the test will come up positive? The false negative rate is high.
Where are we going to put these people during the incubation and testing period? Nowhere. If we let them come, we cannot confine them once they are here.
Everybody acts like it's a no-brainer to test for SARS but frankly it's a no-brainer to NOT test.
The only practical test is to screen for obviously sick people. This will not catch all cases, but it could catch enough to slow its spread. It is still thought that the most contagious time is when symptoms are present.
Even if we cannot keep it out, it is worthwhile to buy time. If the extra time we buy allows us to develop a practical and reliable test, for instance, we will be much better able to contain this. Likewise, it is still possible that this will turn out to be seasonal, or will burn itself out. In other words, slowing down the spread is worth doing even if we cannot keep it out in the end.
I'd prefer they were refused entry altogether. Actually, we should have our own customs agents screen people before they even get on the plane to leave the other country and come here. If they're sick on the plane, with given the recirculated stale air and close contact among passengers, a SARS victim could infect many others who will not show symtoms until after they have already cleared our own customs.
Exactly. Then we're back to what we discussed earlier, which priority is higher:
Health and rights of Americans (quaranteen of Americans being an affront to rights), or
The privilidge of foreigners to come here, weighted by their influence and money.
Sad to say, I don't think this poses a dilemma for our government. They'll choose the latter without even thinking twice about it.
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