By Reuters and Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK – Jonathan Niu got to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport five hours early on Friday, not least because he had a lot of luggage to check for his flight to his native China: He was hauling back boxes filled with hundreds of face masks.

His mother and father, both in their 70s, came to visit him in New York about five months ago, their first trip there in 20 years. In the interim, a new coronavirus has emerged in China and become a fast-spreading global health crisis, prompting foreign governments to fly their citizens out of the country.

Niu was among those who were traveling against the tide along with his parents, who missed their home after months away.

“Now it’s time to go back,” said Niu, 44, who moved to the United States more than 20 years ago and lives in Manhattan, where he works in finance.

The family remembers past virus outbreaks, including severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, and survived them, he said. He thought the US State Department was wise to warn Americans against nonessential travel to China because of the epidemic, which has infected nearly 10,000 people. But he wanted to shepherd his parents home.

Delta Air Lines Inc and American Airlines Group Inc joined other airlines on Friday in suspending all remaining U.S.-China flights.

Even so, Niu’s father seemed relaxed ahead of his flight on China Eastern Airlines from Terminal 1. He smiled broadly, urging a reporter to immediately book a flight to China as well.

His mother had been less sure. “She was so nervous, she couldn’t get any sleep,” Niu said.

After arriving, Niu said he planned to make sure his parents’ home in Hefei, capital of the eastern province of Anhui, was well stocked with groceries and other supplies. He would then settle in and stay with them for a month or two in a sort of self-imposed quarantine before returning to New York.

Niu figured he would cheer up his parents’ neighbors by sharing some of his supply of face masks and drop off some at a nearby hospital.

“Everybody’s panicking there,” he said. “People can’t get the masks.” The stash cost him about $400.

He had also packed five or so masks in his carry-on luggage, thinking he would hand them to his seatmates on the plane.

Surviving coronavirus quarantine, French style

CARRY-LE-ROUET, France – Twice a day, they will have their temperature taken and nurses will check them for coronavirus symptoms: other than that, their main concern will be how to keep their phone charged and get their laundry done.

The 179 evacuees — mostly made up of French nationals and their Chinese spouses — flown back from China were settling into their new life in quarantine on Saturday — a holiday resort in the southeast of France that will be their home for the next two weeks.

These special guests will have the run of their seaside base in Carry-le-Rouet, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the Mediterranean port city of Marseille — so long as they wear a mask.

On Saturday, their first morning there, some were up to take in the sunrise, others sat outside in the mild weather reading while others explored inside the hotel complex.

“There are worse places,” said Marc Ziltman with a smile, as children’s shouts echoed across the facility.

“The easy solution would have been a disused barracks,” Zilman, the senior Red Cross official on site, pointed out. Instead, the French authorities opted to make the evacuees stay as comfortable as possible.

“The site needs to be as agreeable as possible because people are going to pass 14 days there,” he told AFP.

There is volleyball for the teenagers, art classes for the toddlers and a space for the grown-ups to relax over a coffee, making it more holiday resort than hospital or clinic.

The medical team looking after the evacuees is about 20 strong, including doctors, nurses and psychologists. Backing them are soldiers from France’s civil security units and 30 Red Cross volunteers, who mainly take care of the logistics of their stay.