'We were deceived': more than 300 passengers flew from Japan to the United States in the same plane with those infected with coronavirus

Fourteen Chinese coronavirus-infected Americans evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan were brought back to the United States on an airplane full of healthy people, although the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not recommend this. Writes about this New York Post.

Фото: Depositphotos

Representatives of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention claimed that 14 infected passengers from the Diamond Princess airliner should not be returned to the United States on the same plane as healthy people.

“It was a nightmare,” said an anonymous senior US official involved in the decision.

Test results showed that 14 passengers were infected with coronavirus before boarding a plane bound for the United States.

“Nobody expected these results,” said another US official.

The U.S. Department of State promised that no one with the infection would be allowed to board, but then urged Department of Health officials to allow infected people without symptoms to board along with other passengers.

On the subject: What is it like to get sick with Chinese coronavirus: American personal experience

CDC is concerned about infection control in aircraft. First Deputy Director Anna Shuchat wrote to the State Department that those infected would pose an “increased risk for other passengers.”

But the Department of Health decided to let infected people go to absolutely healthy passengers on the plane, of which there were more than 300 people.

The Americans were evacuated with two Boeing 747 aircraft. There were 18 seats for patients in the aircraft, they were fenced with plastic 10 feet (3 m) high on all sides, and infectious disease doctors were also on board.

William Walters, director of operative medicine, said that 14 people were already in the process of evacuation and, according to the protocol, should have been delivered home.

The Department of State found that 14 evacuated found coronavirus about an hour before planes landed in California and Texas.

Other passengers were furious because they were not informed of the risk.

“We were upset that infected people were deliberately put on the plane,” said Vana Mendizabal, 69, a retired nurse.

“I think these people should not have been allowed on the plane,” she added. - We were deceived. And we are very upset about this."

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