430k people came to US from China since virus surfaced

NYT News Service | Apr 6, 2020, 08:00 IST

People wearing face masks walk along Hanjie shopping street in Wuhan (AFP photo)

Since Chinese officials disclosed the outbreak of a mysterious pneumonia like illness to international health officials on New Year’s Eve, at least 4,30,000 people have arrived in the US on direct flights from China, including nearly 40,000 in the two months after President Donald Trump imposed restrictions on such travel, according to an analysis of data collected in both countries.
The bulk of the passengers, who were of multiple nationalities, arrived in January. Thousands of them flew directly from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak, as American public health officials were only beginning to assess the risks to the US.
Flights continued this past week, the data show, with people travelling from Beijing to Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, under rules that exempt Americans and some others from the clampdown that took effect on February 2. In all, 279 flights from China have arrived in the US since then. Trump has suggested his measures impeded the virus’ spread in the US. “I think that we were smart because we stopped China,” he said on Tuesday. Last month, he said, “We’re the ones that kept China out of here.”
But the analysis of the data shows the measures may have come too late to have “kept China out,” particularly in light of statements from health officials that almost 25% of infected people may never show symptoms.