This surprised me. But, perhaps the people are simply looking to visit family and friends and perhaps they had travel plans before the lockdown. The 55 thousand is about 0.5 percent of Wuhan which had a population of 11,080,000 people before the virus.
It is obvious China expects a second round of virus cases by limiting the travel and preventing travel to Beijing.
The reports coming out of China by people speaking English and living in China during this time is that the Chinese government was indeed extremely careful in monitoring the movement of people. Officials would come to the homes of people that tested positive to discover their movements while positive. There was no backlash to the person involved, simply an interview that traced the movements of those carrying the virus.
China probably knows what to expect in the second round of cases in understanding how people are moving through the country and possibly taking the virus with them.
April 8, 2020
By Emily Feng
China has ended its lockdown of Wuhan, (click here) the city where the coronavirus first emerged. After being closed off for more than 10 weeks, millions are expected to leave the area....
...FENG: There is definitely excitement in the air. This is the first time that I've been in the city since the outbreak began. And so it was really heartening for me to see people starting to feel hope again. We woke up at dawn to visit some of Wuhan's transport hubs. And for the first time in more than two months, there were taxis on the road. Taxi services had been canceled until now. Travelers with suitcases were lining up, ready to get their temperatures taken and their health history examined so that they could get on a train or a plane and leave.
The city here says that 55,000 people bought train tickets to leave. And tens of thousands of more left today by car and plane. Though, I should add that no planes have been cleared to fly to Beijing, which is not under lockdown but has very, very strict travel rules now. That's still about half the normal pre-outbreak number of trains and planes that are running today. And transport officials say they're only allowing three-fourth capacity on planes and putting train passengers one seat apart from one another. But people were still really excited to leave.
GREENE: Yeah, I can imagine. I think I speak for so many people around the world who want to get to a point where we're seeing things move in that direction. I mean, how are people feeling? How are they reacting to this moment and the relief?...
This isn't the common cold or the flu, it has very deadly outcomes for more people than the annual flu.
April 2, 2020
By Jason Gale
65 percent of the cases in April displayed no typical signs of COVID-19
Spread of the virus before symptoms pose challenge for control.
Two out of three people (click here) who tested positive for coronavirus in China this month had no typical signs of Covid-19, highlighting the challenge of identifying infections and stopping its spread.
Of 181 new infections detected, 115 -- or 64% -- didn’t have a fever, cough or other symptoms used to identify probable cases, according to China’s National Health Commission. The testing was conducted in the 48 hours through midnight Thursday. The agency has 1,027 so-called asymptomatic people under medical observation, 221 of whom have traveled from other countries, it said Friday.
With the pandemic-causing virus infecting more than 1 million people across the world, scientists are finding a wider range of manifestations than previously recognized. These include an abrupt loss of smell and taste, to unusual neurological symptoms in a small number of cases, said Mady Hornig, a physician-scientist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
“We’re trying to fit all these pieces together to know what is Covid-19?” she said in a phone interview. “When you first have an outbreak or any disease, and if it hasn’t been identified before, you have a process of creating a case definition.”...
To date, the federal government has no specific plan to test people or any plan for returning to normal activities in the USA. That is dangerous and irresponsible.
