“I’ve been studying the maps every night,”
he added. “I had already pictured myself on
the boat.”
As the pandemic grips Europe and the U.S., it
continues to ebb in China, where the first cases of
COVID-19 emerged in December. China reported
a record low of just 15 new cases Thursday and
was cautiously monitoring new arrivals who were
returning with the virus from elsewhere.
More than three-fourths of China’s patients
have recovered. Most people have only mild or
moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough,
though symptoms can be severe, including
pneumonia, especially in older adults and
people with existing health problems. Recovery
for mild cases takes about two weeks, while
more severe illness may take three to six weeks,
the World Health Organization says.
Trump, in a rare Oval Office address to the
nation Wednesday night, said the monthlong
restriction on travel from Europe began at
midnight Friday.
While Trump said all European travel would be
cut off, Homeland Security officials later clarified
that the new travel restrictions would apply only
to most foreign nationals who have been in the
“Schengen Area” at any point for 14 days prior
to their scheduled arrival to the United States.
The area includes France, Italy, German, Greece,
Austria, Belgium and others in the zone that
has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19
cases outside of China.
On the receiving end of the restrictions,
Europeans struggled to make sense of them.
A Parisian mother said she got woken during
the night by her 19-year-old daughter calling
from Los Angeles to say that she wouldn’t be