WTTG/5 reports an AirTran plane that arrived at BWI Airport this Tuesday evening from Cancun, Mexico was briefly quarantined after two male passengers appeared ill. Health care workers in protective gear and face masks boarded the plane on the tarmac.
The late word, also from WTTG/5, is that the passengers were all cleared without incident. The obvious concern was that the two men were ill with the H1N1 swine flu virus that has already afflicted Mexico and is now rapidly spreading around the world.
Even assuming that the evening incident is indeed a false alarm, the state of Maryland and jurisdictions across America will have to deal with the inevitability swine flu reaching across their respective borders. Maryland opened a formal command center Monday in preparation for the expected regional outbreak.
______________________Labels: anne arundel county, bwi, h1n1, health, maryland, swine flu, transportation
