Two senators from opposing political parties joined together to ask the Department of Homeland Security for its strategies for containing a possible coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
Republican Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Democrat Gary Peters of Michigan wrote DHS acting Secretary Chad Wolf to ask: “Does the department currently have a coronavirus response plan?”
Johnson, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Peters, the ranking member, cited poor coordination between state agencies during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
“We write today to inquire about your Department’s strategy to contain the spread of the emerging 2019 Novel Coronavirus,” read the letter. “On January 21, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed the first case of Coronavirus in the U.S. The CDC now reports that there are multiple Coronavirus cases inside the U.S.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed five cases of coronavirus in the U.S. and said they are monitoring at least 110 patients spread out across the country. On Tuesday, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton called for a “targeted travel ban” on China to help contain the respiratory illness.
China has struggled to contain the epidemic, which Chinese President Xi Jinping called a “demon.” The country has quarantined several major cities and more than 50 million people to contain the outbreak.
“In China, the Coronavirus quickly infected thousands of people and caused multiple deaths in less than a month,” added Johnson and Peters. “As of January 27, 2020, the virus has infected close to 3,000 people and caused at least 81 deaths. The CDC is investigating 110 other potential cases that span 26 states in the U.S.”
The letter cited confirmed cases in more than a dozen countries in places including Thailand, France, and Canada. Earlier on Tuesday, Germany and Japan announced the countries’ first “human-to-human” infected patients who had not traveled to Wuhan, China.
“In a January 2016 report, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General concluded that insufficient interagency coordination in the 2014 Ebola response exposed system-wide gaps in ensuring all airport travelers received full health screenings. We want to ensure that these deficiencies have been addressed,” added Peters and Johnson.
The senators requested a response by 5 p.m. on Jan. 31.
