After returning from a country with a coronavirus travel warning and feeling intensifying flu-like symptoms, a Florida woman says she called to notify the CDC of her deteriorating health before boarding a connecting flight from New York to Tampa.
"No one sounded prepared," the 29-year-old woman, according to a report by Fox 13. She and her friend, back from a trip to Northern Italy, are two of the three Floridians to have tested positive for coronavirus. But she apparently told Fox 13 that she wasn't tested for the virus until she touched down in Tampa. She said when she called the CDC while she was in New York, the federal agency, in an apparent echo of the fumbled response of the Trump administration, didn't seem to have their shit together. "No one at the CDC sounded prepared or educated on what was going on. When talking about an outbreak in Milan, Italy, I think they should know what part of the country that's in," said the woman. Both she and her friend are under self-quarantine in her house and say they are doing OK (and also that they break quarantine to accept grocery delivery).
Fox 13 says the woman spoke to their news gatherers by phone and says she wants to remain anonymous and keep her flight info anonymous. She adds that she doesn't fault Tampa Airport for receiving her and her domestic flight, because no red flags were raised when she gave her flight info to the CDC. Airport officials say that staff has upped its cleaning efforts around "high-touch areas" and has lined the place with extra hand sanitizer.
Stay on top of Orlando news and views. Sign up for our weekly Headlines newsletter.
