Flights from Ontario International Airport have continued unabated to Taiwan, the island territory run independent of China, even though the World Health Organization considers travel to China as well as Taiwan a “very high risk” due to the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus in Asia.

The WHO travel advisory lumping in Taiwan with mainland China is misleading, say Taiwanese officials, because the majority of cases are in China, with only a few in Taiwan.

Italy banned travel

Nonetheless, the rise in cases combined with the WHO warning has resulted in a travel ban from Italy to Taiwan, where all flights from the European country to Taiwan have been canceled, Abraham Chu, director of the Taipei Economic Cultural Office in Los Angeles, said in an interview Tuesday, Feb. 4.

Chu said Taiwanese authorities on both sides of the Pacific Ocean are negotiating with the Italians to drop the ban. The Taiwanese have convinced other nations, including the United States, not to follow the WHO warning.

“It is totally wrong,” Chu said. “Health is not politics. It should be separated. The simple truth is Taiwan is not part of the People’s Republic of China.”

Chu said the Taiwanese health screenings are much more sophisticated than those in China. Taiwan has experienced only 10 cases, while China has reported 20,438 cases as of Monday, including a few in Hong Kong and Macau. The virus has killed more than 360 people, all but one in China. Eleven people have been infected in the United States.

Flights from Ontario continue

Mark Thorpe, ONT chief executive officer, spoke publicly for the first time in an interview Monday, Feb. 3, about the coronavirus, the flight carrying nearly 200 Americans airlifted from the U.S. consulate in Wuhan, China, first scheduled to land at ONT but diverted at the last minute to March Air Reserve Base on Wednesday, Jan. 29, and about international travelers landing at the airport.

He also defended ONT’s regular China Airlines flights going to and from Taiwan.

“That flight will continue,” he said.” “I am not too concerned.”

Screening in Taipei airport

Thorpe praised the Taiwan government for its response to the virus. Passengers boarding the China Airlines flight have their temperatures taken, Thorpe said. The passengers fill out a questionnaire asking if they’ve traveled in mainland China and especially, Wuhan, Chu said. If they’ve been to Wuhan they may be asked to wait for 14 days before traveling, according to news reports.

But now that the Chinese have shut down all travel out of Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus, they are not seeing passengers from that city on China Airline flights to the U.S., Chu said.

The passengers from Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport land in a separate terminal at ONT, away from domestic arrivals, although departing passengers leave from a common terminal. Customs agents, as well as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at the airport, are scanning the field of arriving passengers, Thorpe said.

“We have professionals who can spot people who show symptoms (of the virus),” he added.

More medical teams needed?

San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman had wondered if the county could place a medical team at ONT, just in case. But that would have to be ordered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is overseeing those 200 passengers from Wuhan quarantined at March Air Reserve Base near Moreno Valley.

“No, we haven’t been asked to do that. That would be something directed from the CDC,” said Lana Culp, spokesperson for the county Department of Public Health.

Chinese-American community reacts

Meanwhile, the Chinese-American community in the San Gabriel Valley has been on edge. Alhambra canceled its Chinese New Year celebration scheduled for last weekend. And the Rowland Heights Chinese Association prevented anyone from attending its Chinese New Year Gala, instead allowing a live stream video of performances for residents to watch at home, said Ken Meng, a board member.

Meng, a 26-year resident of Rowland Heights and also a member of the Chinese American Day Committee and the Greater Los Angeles Communities Alliance, told folks at an emergency meeting Monday, Feb. 3, that they should restrict travel and avoid social gatherings. He advised those in attendance to go less frequently to the Asian markets.

The longtime community leader and activist said too many Chinese-Americans living in eastern Los Angeles County and the San Bernardino Valley don’t take the threat seriously. He’s particularly concerned about people traveling to Southeast Asia and mainland China, often through Taiwan.

“Protect oneself. And protect your community. Just stay home,” Meng said in an interview Monday.

Last week, the CDC recommended Americans avoid all non-essential trips to China, but there’s no mention of Taiwan. Many passengers flying from ONT to Taiwan come from the Asian-majority communities in eastern Los Angeles County. Some use the Taipei flight to connect with cities in mainland China as well as other destinations in Southeast Asia, airport officials said.

“Some people may have left Wuhan, the center of this outbreak, and traveled to Vietnam and then to the United States. But we didn’t know that because they didn’t come directly from Wuhan — it doesn’t show. This can be really dangerous,” Meng said.

ONT passengers had been to China

China Airlines marketing materials say the route “tap(s) into the market for travel between Taiwan, Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau among eastern Los Angeles’ Chinese community.”

Passengers arriving at ONT on Jan. 28, many of whom were from Rowland Heights and north Orange County, had visited other Asian countries. One woman, who operates a business in City of Industry, said she spent the month of December in several cities in China, before flying to Taipei to “get clean.”

A repatriation center

Since Ontario airport is one of two repatriation airports in the state, it had prepared an old hangar to house the State Department officials that were airlifted from Wuhan last week. But they would have had to sleep on cots, Thorpe said, so he agreed with the decision to redirect the flight to March ARB, where better accommodations were available.

“I think we would have done an excellent job” housing the passengers, Thorpe said. He’s hoping congressional leaders who sent letters to federal authorities concerned about the repatriation effort that almost happened at ONT can provide funding for better lodging and health screening facilities for the airport.

“We would appreciate funding for a real repatriation center. It would be nice to have something to turn the switch and have people taken care of,” Thorpe said.