Polly Hanson, senior director of security risk and emergency management at the American Public Transportation Association, said transit agencies have brushed off pandemic plans or contagious virus guidance dating back as far back as 2003.
She said the same agencies that prepared for swine flu, SARS, MERS and Ebola are updating and reviewing plans from those outbreaks. APTA has scheduled a webinar to help local transit agencies prepare for the outbreak and has invited the Federal Transit Administration and CDC to participate.
“Certainly people are aware” of the outbreak, she said. “They couldn’t not be.” Similarly, the Cruise Lines International Association has adopted enhanced protocols for travelers and crew on cruise ships who traveled from or through South Korea and China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
Among the protocols: barring boarding to all persons who have traveled from, visited or transited via airports in South Korea and China, including Hong Kong and Macau, within 14 days, as well as those who have had close contact with anyone suspected of or diagnosed with the virus.
The State Department also offers guidance, recommending any U.S. citizen returning to the United States who has been in Hubei province, China, in the previous 14 days be subject to up to 14 days of quarantine, while any U.S. citizen returning to the United States who has been in the rest of mainland China within the previous 14 days may undergo a health screening and possible self-quarantine.
