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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – In response to the COVID-19 virus passenger flights to and from China have been suspended, but, some air traffic between Huntsville and China is underway. Local and state health officials addressed how that traffic is being monitored on Thursday.
DSV Panalpina said Friday there will be 3 flights a week between the port of Huntsville and Shanghai with stops in South Korea on the way and Anchorage on the way back. They go through customs in Anchorage, before Huntsville.
“The CDC does have guidance on cargo flights, cargo crews, etc.,” said Karen Landers with the Alabama Department of Public Health. “The concern there is not related to the cargo. The COVID is not going to be transmitted in the cargo.”
The Alabama Department of Public Health has a plan for monitoring flight crews flying in and out of China.
“We have information related to the fact that they’ve been to China, been back to the United States,” said Landers. “They come into our movement and monitoring program, by our contacting them, putting them in our database.”
The rules are different for U.S.-based crews and China-based crews. For U.S.-based crew members, with layovers in China outside Hubei Province in the past 14 days, they’re considered low risk, should self-monitor, and have no movement restrictions.
For China-based crews outside Hubei Province, they are considered medium risk, should stay in their hotels, and avoid general public contact.
Read the full CDC Guidance for Crews on Passenger or Cargo Flights.
“We educate the person regarding signs and symptoms of the disease,” said Landers. “We educate them on what they would do if they had signs and symptoms.”
If things take a turn and if persons in our movement and monitoring program become ill, with signs or symptoms, we have already designated hospital or health care provider to be tested.
