WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. health officials offered a reality check Tuesday about the scary new virus from China: They’re expanding screenings of international travelers and taking other precautions but for now, they insist the risk to Americans is very low.
“At this point Americans should not worry for their own safety,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told reporters Tuesday.
China has confirmed more than 4,500 people with the respiratory illness, which in severe cases can cause pneumonia, with dozens more counted in other countries. In the U.S. so far, there are five confirmed patients, all of whom had traveled to the hardest-hit part of China – and no sign that they have spread the illness to anyone around them.
Still, “this is a very fast-moving, constantly changing situation,” Azar added.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks at a news conference about the federal government’s response to a virus outbreak originating in China, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Washington. Standing alongside Azar are National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci, from left, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease Director Nancy Messonnier. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Flanked by the government’s top infection specialists, Azar listed the biggest unanswered questions of the outbreak and tried to tamp down some of the fear and speculation provoked by China’s rising toll: