Inspectors Admit Asian Travelers With SARS Symptoms
No SARS Safeguards At US Airports For Incoming Passengers
By Paul Sperry
WorldNetDaily.com
4-8-3
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 ö 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. <
http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30903>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.
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