A Stony Brook University professor is unable to return to the United States after visiting family in Wuhan, China, due to the Chinese government’s travel lockdown to contain the deadly coronavirus.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer of New York will work to arrange a flight for the professor. He declined to identify the professor at a news conference in Manhattan on Sunday.
Schumer wants the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to declare the coronavirus a public health emergency. That would allow the Centers for Disease Control to access $856 million to combat the disease.
New York has sent seven cases to the CDC to rule out the infection’s spread to the state — three have come back negative.
Stony Brook University did not respond to requests for comment.
