Good point .
5 March 2020
PORTLAND, Ore. — A Tualatin man told KATU News he was not screened at any U.S. airports when he returned from a month-long trip to China where the novel coronavirus is widespread.
China has 80,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. The disease has killed 2,984 people ,according to the World Health Organization.
Michael Kilgour arrived in Portland yesterday.
Kilgour said he was in China for business and based in Dongguan in Houjie. The city is thousands of miles from Wuhan, Hubei, where the virus originated. "There's no stores open," he said. "There's no people on the street."
When he returned to the United States on Tuesday, Kilgour said he was expecting stringent screening and strict monitoring.
While traveling, he said he was only screened at the Vancouver, Canada airport.
"I went through customs and they had a little machine that took my temperature on my forehead and I walked through. Then I get on my flight to go to Seattle. When I got off in Seattle, I'm in the main terminal. There was no inspection. There was no place for an inspection," he said.
The CDC website details the protocol for U.S. citizens returning from countries with widespread COVID-19 cases.
The CDC has the following guidelines:
"American citizens, lawful permanent residents, and their families who have been in China in the past 14 days will be allowed to enter the United States, but will be redirected to one of 11 airports to undergo health screening. Depending on their health and travel history, they will have some level of restrictions on their movements for 14 days from the time they left China."
Your travel will be redirected to one of 11 U.S. airports where CDC has quarantine stations. You will be asked about your health and travel. Your health will be screened for fever, cough, or trouble breathing.
The CDC said people without symptoms will be given a health information card to detail what to do if they develop them. Kilgour said he did not receive the information.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is responsible for screening travelers when they return to the United States.
“CBP officers use a combination of traveler history records, officer questioning and observation, and self-declarations to identify individuals requiring additional health screening," a spokesperson for CBP said in an email.
The spokesperson said CBP and the CDC are monitoring travelers at the Vancouver, Canada airport where Kilgour was screened.
Kilgour has chosen to self-quarantine himself for two weeks. He said he contacted his doctor and is waiting to find out what to do next.
Oregon has three confirmed cases of coronavirus. No new cases were reported Wednesday.