January 27, 2020 | 3:02pm | Updated January 27, 2020 | 5:21pm
Hundreds of Americans will be be removed Tuesday from the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus in Wuhan, China, on a charter flight to California, according to a report.
The operation will fly out only some of the estimated 1,000 US citizens trapped in the city, which has been on lockdown after the virus broke out there last month, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Officials secured the charter plane, which seats around 230 people, to transport US diplomats and their families, as well as an “extremely limited” number of private citizens from the city’s closed airport, the outlet reported.
It’s unclear where exactly the flight will land, but some who have snagged seats were told it was headed to Ontario, Calif., which is east of Los Angeles, according to the report.
But before that, it will stop to refuel in Anchorage, Alaska — where passengers will disembark for a health screening, officials in the state told the outlet.
One American who scored a seat on the plane says she has no idea how she’s going to get to the airport, however, as there is almost no transit in the city now.
“I have secured a seat, but the problem is transportation,” Priscilla Dickie told the Journal.
The flight will leave behind hundreds of US citizens stuck in Wuhan, where reinforcements for medical personnel were dispatched Monday to help deal with the health crisis.
But some say they’d rather take their chances staying Wuhan than spend hours inside a plane with others who could be carrying the virus.
“As of right now, my dad is adamant about staying where he is,” one college student told the Journal of her dad, who had flown to Wuhan for business. “He’s worried about getting sick from people on the plane and potentially bringing it back to us.”
The death toll reached 81 on Monday as the number of cases surpasses 2,800 in China, the Guardian reported.
