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China Complains Its Image Is ‘Seriously Tarnished’ by American Journalists and Is Retaliating Against Them; Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak

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By Business Insider. China announced it would take “reciprocal countermeasures” against American journalists working in the country in yet another escalation of tensions between the two countries amid the coronavirus pandemic.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday released a statement ordering American journalists working for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post to return their media credentials — effectively disallowing them from reporting the news in China and Hong Kong.

The ministry claimed its decision to further regulate US journalists was predicated on the US’s actions against its own journalists, which included “slashing the staff size of Chinese media outlets in the US, which is expulsion in all but name.”

“In recent years, the US government has placed unwarranted restrictions on Chinese media agencies and personnel in the US, purposely made things difficult for their normal reporting assignments, and subjected them to growing discrimination and politically-motivated oppression,” the ministry said in its statement.

Chinese media companies, which are heavily regulated and censored by the government, have several bureaus working in the US. In February, the Trump administration designated five of those state-run organizations as “foreign embassies,” which requires them to register their assets with the US State Department. (Read more from “China Complains Its Image Is ‘Seriously Tarnished’ by American Journalists and Is Retaliating Against Them” HERE)

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China Announces Expulsion of U.S. Journalists

By TIME. The Chinese government moved Tuesday to strip credentials from American reporters working for the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, in a tit-for-tat exchange with the U.S. that has escalated in recent weeks. Beijing also demanded those outlets, as well as TIME and Voice of America, hand over details about personnel and operations.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed Americans working for the three U.S. newspapers whose credentials expire at the end of the year to turn in their press passes within 10 days. Those reporters would then be barred from reporting inside China, as well as in China’s semi-autonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. The ministry also demanded information “in written form” about staff, operations, finances and real estate of the five American news organizations, including TIME, in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

The Chinese government said that the move to send reporters out of the country was taken in response to the U.S. not allowing more Chinese nationals working for state-run media to work in the U.S. On March 2, the Trump administration put a cap on the number of Chinese nationals allowed to be employed by five Chinese state-run news outlets operating inside the U.S. That action by the U.S. followed China’s decision to expel three reporters from the Wall Street Journal following the publication of an opinion article critical of the Chinese government. China’s “measures are entirely necessary and reciprocal countermeasures that China is compelled to take in response to the unreasonable oppression the Chinese media organizations experience in the U.S.,” the ministry wrote in a statement. (Read more from “China Announces Expulsion of U.S. Journalists” HERE)

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Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak

By WIO News. Coronavirus has imposed a worldwide curfew, the most popular sites lie deserted. There are more than 1,80,000 confirmed cases and over 7000 have died. . .

They’re sparing no effort to deflect blame for the outbreak. China wants the world to believe that the coronavirus did not originate there.

Chinese diplomats are aggressively pushing conspiracy theories to spread that coronavirus originated in the United States of America (USA). They claim there’s evidence that the virus was not made in China. And they are doing so mainly to shrug off scrutiny. . .

However, the truth is China tried to hide the outbreak. There is no doubt that the Chinese people were the worst sufferers of this outbreak, but the Chinese state deserves no sympathy, let alone praise.

China’s new narrative on the coronavirus is designed for both the domestic and the international audience. It makes the communist party look strong at home. Ideally, China should help smaller countries, ramp-up efforts to contain the disease. (Read more from “Why China Is Blaming the U.S. for Coronavirus Outbreak” HERE)

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GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to End Dependency on China’s Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

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In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and supply chain disruptions, one Republican lawmaker is seeking to decrease America’s dependence on China.

Appearing on “Fox and Friends” Sunday, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) explained that she has introduced legislation to increase America’s pharmaceutical production to decrease dependency on China.

“It is the SAM-C Bill, Securing America’s Medicine Cabinet,” Blackburn said. “Many of the pharmaceuticals that are necessary for creating some of these viruses — and certainly the coronavirus family is one of those — they’re made only in China.”

“We are depended upon them for these. They’re called APIs: active pharmaceutical ingredients,” she continued. “My legislation would incentivize bringing that production back on U.S. shores.” (Read more from “GOP Lawmaker Introduces Bill to End Dependency on China’s Pharmaceutical Manufacturing” HERE)

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Wuhan Doctors Say Colleagues Died in Vain Amid Official Cover-Up; Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus (VIDEO)

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By The Straits Time. The hospital where coronavirus whistle-blower Li Wenliang worked and died has been hit harder than any other by Covid-19 due in part to throttling of information by officials, a Caixin investigation has found.

The Central Hospital of Wuhan, where Dr Li died, has seen over 230 of its 4,000 medical staff diagnosed with Covid-19, the highest rate of infection at any hospital in Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, according to data Caixin has obtained.

On Monday, ophthalmologist Zhu Heping was the fourth doctor at the hospital to succumb to the disease, following the deaths of doctors Li Wenliang, Jiang Xueqing and Mei Zhongming on Feb 7, March 1 and March 3, respectively. . .

A Central Hospital department head blamed authorities for endangering lives by spreading false information.

“The false information released by the relevant departments – claiming the disease was controllable and would not spread from human-to-human – left hundreds of doctors and nurses in the dark, doing all they could to treat patients without knowing about the epidemic,” the department head told Caixin. (Read more from “Wuhan Doctors Say Colleagues Died in Vain Amid Official Cover-Up” HERE)

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Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus

By NBC News. Chinese officials have sidestepped questions about whether Beijing blames Washington for the coronavirus outbreak after a foreign ministry spokesman suggested it could have been planted by the U.S. Army.

“When did patient zero begin in U.S.? How many people are infected? What are the names of the hospitals? It might be U.S. army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan,” Zhao Lijian tweeted in both Chinese and English on Thursday. “Be transparent! Make public your data! U.S. owe us an explanation!”

His post was accompanied by a video of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that some Americans who had seemingly died from influenza later tested positive for the new coronavirus.

Zhao, who was based at the Chinese Embassy in Pakistan before moving to the foreign ministry in February, is a prolific social media user; a hashtag referring to his posts was trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo on Friday with more than 89,000 mentions. He is known for being outspoken and for his sometimes outrageous comments.

(Read more from “Chinese Official Attempts to Blame U.S. Military for Coronavirus” HERE)

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Despicable Chinese Cover-Up Started in December, More Evidence Coronavirus is an Escaped Bioweapon

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By New York Post. Chinese scientists knew about the coronavirus and its deadly effects as early as December — but were ordered by government officials to suppress the evidence, according to a report.

In late December, several genomics companies tested samples from sick patients in Wuhan — the center of the coronavirus outbreak — and noticed alarming similarities between their illnesses and the 2002 SARS virus, the Sunday Times of London reported, citing Chinese business news site Caixin Global.

The researchers alerted Beijing of their findings — and on Jan. 3, received a gag order from China’s National Health Commission, with instructions to destroy the samples.

Rather than hunkering down to contain the virus, Wuhan officials went ahead with their annual potluck dinner for 40,000 families. (Read more from “Despicable Chinese Cover-Up Started in December, More Evidence Coronavirus Is an Escaped Bioweapon” HERE)

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Coronavirus Taking a Toll on Chinese Restaurants in New York

By New York Post. Even the Big Apple’s most beloved Chinese restaurants are in critical condition as the coronavirus keeps customers at bay.

Restaurant owners, the people who work for them and city lawmakers say business at Chinese-owned establishments has plummeted by as much as 60 percent as the global pandemic spreads. Some restaurants in Queens have closed, possibly for good, sources said.

“It’s been terrible for business,” said Thomas Lo, a co-owner of Spy C Cuisine of Forest Hills, Queens, which opened in 2018 and garnered a coveted spot in this year’s Michelin Guide. “We’ve had a steady increase in business since we opened, and then coronavirus hit,” said Lo, who is an anesthesiologist by day and a chef by night.

“None of our food comes from China, but that doesn’t matter to diners. I don’t know what motivated the scare. A lot of it is misinformation,” said Lo, who says business at Spy C is down more than 50 percent from a month ago. (Read more from “Coronavirus Taking a Toll on Chinese Restaurants in New York” HERE)

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U.S. Places New Restrictions on Chinese Journalists

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In a briefing to reporters on Monday, senior Trump administration officials announced a set of restrictions to be placed on Chinese journalists operating in the United States.

Why it matters: The unprecedented restrictions are aimed at upholding “reciprocity” in U.S.-China relations amid a deteriorating media environment in China, the officials said.

Details: U.S. administration officials said that two types of restrictions will be put into place in the coming weeks.

The administration will place a duration of stay on all Chinese nationals who are in the United States on I visas, the visa type given to foreign media workers. They will be eligible to request extensions when their visas expire.

The five Chinese state-run media outlets that were recently designated by the State Department as “foreign missions” will now face a limit on the total number of Chinese nationals working for them in the United States at any given time.

(Read more from “U.S. Places New Restrictions on Chinese Journalists” HERE)

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Airlines Face Loss of up to $30 Billion in Revenues in Wake of Coronavirus; Pandemic Would Spark Deep Recession and Pose a ‘Significant Threat’ to Trump’s Re-Election, Top Economist Says

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By Breitbart. The spread of the coronavirus from its epicenter in central China to infections identified around the world is having a severe impact on airlines as consumers cancel or delay travel plans. Industry experts say airlines worldwide could lose as much as $30 billion in revenues this year, with Chinese carriers facing the brunt of the loss with an estimated $12.8 billion deficit.

The Asia-Pacific region could face lost revenues of $12.8 billion, and carriers outside of that region could be out $1.5 billion, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

“Regional carriers will see their revenue dip by 3 per cent, but this figure can go up to 50 per cent if the outbreak continues and travel restrictions are expanded,” Muhammad Ali Albakri, regional vice-president, Africa and the Middle East, at IATA said in a GulfNews.com report:

Albakri said there has been a drop in ticket sales in the Middle East and elsewhere. The industry is staring at a potential 13 per cent full-year dip in passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The estimates by IATA are based on a scenario where COVID-19 has a similar V-shaped impact on demand as was experienced during the SARS outbreak in 2003. SARS was responsible for the 5.1 per cent fall in revenue per passenger kilometre (RPK, an industry measure) carried by Asia-Pacific airlines.

(Read more from “Airlines Face Loss of up to $30 Billion in Revenues in Wake of Coronavirus” HERE)

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Coronavirus Pandemic Would Spark Deep Recession and Pose a ‘Significant Threat’ to Trump’s Re-Election, Top Economist Mark Zandi Says

By CNBC. Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi warns Wall Street is underestimating the damage from a coronavirus pandemic — both on the economy and President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.

“Right now, we don’t have a whole lot of confidence. I mean he can’t seem to get on the same page with the experts, the CDC,” the firm’s chief economist told CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Friday. “This is a significant threat to his re-election.”

Not only is the response to the medical emergency key, an economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus would be political kryptonite. . .

“They’re at least even odds,” he said. “If you take the most likely scenario and the CDC is roughly right, then it’s pretty hard to avoid one.” . . .

“Valuations were very stretched. Anything probably would have pushed the stock market back on its heels,” Zandi said. “COVID-19 [coronavirus] is more than just something, and that is something very substantive.” (Read more from “Coronavirus Pandemic Would Spark Deep Recession and Pose a ‘Significant Threat’ to Trump’s Re-Election, Top Economist Mark Zandi Says” HERE)

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Forgotten Issues in the Coronavirus Debate: Mass Migration and Offshoring to China

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This week, Congress will debate its reaction to the coronavirus. One hundred percent of the discussion will revolve around how much money to throw at HHS agencies already flush with record budgets, but nobody is discussing the biggest policy problem implicated during critical public health crises – mass migration and outsourcing to and from the very source countries of these outbreaks.

Immigration, when managed properly, at the right levels, from the right places, with prudent vetting and fostering of Americanization among the new arrivals, can enrich a country. But when done with no regard for American sovereignty and security, and through irresponsible and unchecked mass migration, it can be the biggest conduit for whatever global concerns we seek to avoid – whether drugs, cultural problems, espionage, terrorism, trade theft, or communicable diseases.

It is evident from both the 2003 SARS and 2020 coronavirus outbreaks that China cannot be trusted to keep these viruses in check or to be truthful and collaborative in containing them. Living with such a clear reality, why are policymakers not questioning the effect of bringing in hundreds of thousands of Chinese students and tens of thousands more on other visas every year? Why do we not clamp down on mass travel the minute there is a sense of a novel virus outbreak in China? Those are the questions policymakers should be grappling with this week.

Given the sheer number of Chinese students studying in our universities, an outcome the American people never voted for, how many countless thousands traveled back from school vacations in China when the new semester began in January? That coincided with the outbreak of the virus. What protocols were put in place to ensure they were not carrying the virus, or is such an effort even possible with such large numbers in a rush to get back for the new semester?

There are certainly a lot of terrific people who come here from China. But we can’t ignore the fact that the Chinese government is our biggest adversary and is using its diaspora of students, which flows into a pipeline of Chinese workers employed in sensitive industries and government research labs, as a means of stealing our expertise, data, and trade secrets and bringing it back home.

According to a bipartisan Senate Homeland Security subcommittee report, there are 10,000 Chinese nationals conducting research in the Department of Energy’s National Labs. The report found that agencies and departments conducting scientific research like the National Institutes of Health and the State Department do not “systematically track visa applicants linked to China’s talent recruitment plans.”

The report found that foreign-born researchers working for various U.S. scientific research agencies were being paid by China under the Thousand Talents Plan run by the communist government. It concludes, “American taxpayer funded research has contributed to China’s global rise over the last 20 years,” because it allowed China to go “from brain drain to brain gain.”

Just take the recent case of a Chinese national working for Coke in Atlanta. Just last month, Xiaorong “Shannon” You, a Chinese national, was indicted for stealing $100 million in trade secrets from six Coke vendors before she left the company. According to the FBI, this enabled her to win Chinese government funding to start a company making next-generation can coatings back in China.

As the Atlanta-Journal Constitution pointed out, “Chinese companies, individuals and agents steal between $225 billion and $600 billion a year in U.S. intellectual property ranging from copying designs to make knock-off handbags to pirated music and movies to corporate America’s most sensitive technologies, according to one outside estimate U.S. officials cite.”

It’s a fulfillment of what the Senate subcommittee report warned: how China, over the past generation, discovered that it’s “more efficient to allow its nationals to learn how to conduct research and develop cutting-edge technologies overseas and later find ways for these nationals to assist China.”

This is how China has been able to develop an army of people with American expertise to then work for these American or Chinese companies for a cheaper price overseas. Now, not only does China have an easy conduit to bring in communicable diseases to our country, but it has used it to stymie our ability to deal with such outbreaks properly, because most of our drug ingredients are made in, you guessed it, China!

On Friday, CNBC reported that the Food and Drug Administration announced its first drug shortage as a result of the coronavirus because so many of our drug manufacturers rely on ingredients made in China, but declined to name the drug. Again, the irony is lost on most policymakers that so many outbreaks occur in China, we bring in endless foreign students from China right during the outbreak in late December/early January, and the pipeline of Chinese students and workers is what has caused the very offshoring that makes us vulnerable during Chinese virus outbreaks!

The amazing thing is that senators will publish reports with findings smacking them in the face and indicting unbridled mass migration, yet they will never point the finger at the obvious culprit when the results become so painfully obvious during a time of a health epidemic. How could mass migration from China ever work for us when the politicians know how China is using it to scavenge America’s carcass?

No money in the world funneled to HHS can solve the problem of our de facto open-borders policy and the multiple ways China uses it against us. (For more from the author of “Forgotten Issues in the Coronavirus Debate: Mass Migration and Offshoring to China” please click HERE)

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Chinese Destroyer Shoots Weapons-Grade Laser at U.S. Navy P-8A Plane Operating Near Guam

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A U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was lased by People’s Republic of China (PRC) navy destroyer 161 on Feb. 17 while flying in airspace above international waters approximately 380 miles west of Guam.

The P-8A was operating in international airspace in accordance with international rules and regulations. The PRC navy destroyer’s actions were unsafe and unprofessional.

Additionally, these acts violate the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES), a multilateral agreement reached at the 2014 Western Pacific Naval Symposium to reduce the chance of an incident at sea. CUES specifically addresses the use of lasers that could cause harm to personnel or damage to equipment.

The destroyer’s actions were also inconsistent with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between U.S. Department of Defense and the Ministry of National Defense of the PRC regarding rules of behavior for safety of air and maritime encounters.

The laser, which was not visible to the naked eye, was captured by a sensor onboard the P-8A.
Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners, as well as ship and aircraft systems.

The P-8A is assigned to VP-45, based out of Jacksonville, Florida, and is forward-deployed to Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan. The squadron conducts routine operations, maritime patrol and reconnaissance in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations.

U.S Navy aircraft routinely fly in the Philippine Sea and have done so for many years. U.S. Navy aircraft and ships will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.

U.S. 7th Fleet is the largest numbered fleet in the world, and with the help 35 other maritime-nation allies and partners, the U.S. Navy has operated in the Indo-Pacific region for more than century, providing credible, ready forces to help preserve peace and prevent conflict. (For more from the author of “Chinese Destroyer Lases U.S. Navy P-8A Plane Operating Near Guam” please click HERE)

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Military Experts at CPAC Warn China Is Trying to ‘Strangle Us’; U.S. Professor Charged With Hiding China Ties From NASA

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By Breitbart. Experts on China at a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) panel on Thursday sounded the alarm about the Communist nation’s efforts to defeat the United States and without ever having to fire a shot.

The experts on the panel, hosted by the Committee on the Present Danger: China, warned that China is laying the groundwork to replace the U.S. as the world’s superpower, which will have profound implications for Americans.

China expert and author Gordon Chang said China is becoming more belligerent to the U.S. — not less — and is trying to lay the groundwork in China to blame the coronavirus on the United States. . .

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Steven L. Kwast, who recently retired and speaks about the threat of China as a private citizen, said China is pursuing a strategy of seeking dominance while “trying not to awaken the great giant” — the U.S. . .

China is trying to “strangle us [so that] we go out with a whimper,” he said. Yet, he added, “We are going about our lives.” (Read more from “Military Experts at CPAC Warn China Is Trying to ‘Strangle Us’” HERE)

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U.S. Professor Charged With Hiding China Ties From NASA

By Quartz. An engineering professor at the University of Tennessee was arrested today after allegedly concealing his relationship with a Chinese university while working on projects for US government agencies, including NASA.

Anming Hu has been on the faculty of UT Knoxville’s Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering since 2013. But, prosecutors said in an indictment unsealed today, he was also a faculty member at the Beijing University of Technology’s (BJUT) Institute of Laser Engineering, pursuing research sponsored by the Chinese government, and actively hid the affiliation from UT officials.

While NASA is often promoted as a diplomatic tool, capable of bridging geopolitical controversies with its focus on research and exploration, the US space agency is restricted from funding any activity that that cooperates or collaborates with the Chinese government or Chinese companies, including Chinese universities.

According to court documents, prosecutors say NASA would not have given any funding to UT Knoxville and Hu had the space agency been aware of Hu’s affiliations in China. Hu’s research was supported by $110,000 in federal contracts. (Read more from “U.S. Professor Charged With Hiding China Ties From NASA” HERE)

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WATCH: Brave Chinese Woman Risks Her Life To Denounce ‘Evil’ Regime’s Handling Of Coronavirus; 2 Passengers Die After Leaving ‘Chaotic’ Quarantined Cruise Ship

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By Breitbart. An anonymous Chinese woman courageously posted a video message to her fellow citizens on Sunday in which she called for resistance to the Communist Party, accusing it of destroying countless lives by bungling its response to the Wuhan coronavirus and warning that even now, the Party is primarily interested in suppressing dissent and maintaining power than fighting the disease.

Taiwan News was impressed by the woman’s willingness to say just about everything that can get you arrested in China, at a moment when swarms of censors have been unleashed to quash public anger over the coronavirus:

In the opening of the video, the woman addresses her “fellow citizens,” saying that ordinary people are being sacrificed by the “schemes and plans of the government.” She complains the government does not care about the average person and that no amount of money can buy the necessary medicine and hospital beds needed to treat the deadly virus.

She then proceeds to break every major taboo in the CCP censors’ book by expressing her support for independence in Tibet, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She condemns the “evil deeds of the Chinese Communist Party and the corrupt regime, and evil society,” which she says prevents people from speaking freely.

The woman points out that anyone who dares to speak about the reality on the ground in Wuhan is quickly rounded up by the police. She says the solution of the authorities is to take people “to drink tea,” a euphemism for police interrogation, followed by detention and adjudication.

(Read more from “WATCH: Brave Chinese Woman Risks Her Life To Denounce ‘Evil’ Regime’s Handling Of Coronavirus” HERE)

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2 Passengers Die After Leaving ‘Chaotic’ Quarantined Cruise Ship

By NBC News. . .The mandatory federal quarantine for nearly all of the U.S. citizens and their families who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, earlier this month on State Department-chartered planes has ended.

On Thursday, the 57 evacuees at Camp Ashland near Omaha, Nebraska took their final health checks. All were determined to be healthy.

“These people pose no health threat to their communities,” Dr. Eric Kasowski, CDC team leader for the quarantine in Omaha, said in a statement. “These Americans have done their duty — 14 days — and they’re getting to go back to their families.” . . .

Another group of 63 people who were under quarantine at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego has also been released. One of those evacuees was also diagnosed with COVID-19, and is hospitalized. The CDC said a close contact of that patient will remain under quarantine.

“Two passengers’ journeys have been delayed, but we are confident in the care they are receiving from local health officials and health care providers,” Dr. Erin Staples, CDC team leader for the quarantine in San Diego, said. (Read more from “2 Passengers Die After Leaving ‘Chaotic’ Quarantined Cruise Ship” HERE)

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