Originally Posted by
bobbytables
This seems bizarre. Could the United States government really not muster a few testing kits to find out more reliably if people are infected?
The point is, that testing isn't necessarily reliable. If you tested all the US passengers at this point, it might find a few positives. But it also might find lots of negatives in asymptomatic individuals who will later turn positive. Since test kits don't grow on trees, and since the proper test procedure is invasive and requires skill to take the sample, it really makes the most sense to limit testing to symptomatic individuals and their close contacts. And safely quarantine everyone else for 14 days.
I think those passengers who are choosing to stay on the ship, in the belief that they will be released to travel at will after Feb 19, are going to be in for a rude awakening. They should take the offer of the USG charter while they can. Even if the overpackers need to just abandon their excess stuff and give to the crew.
No US commercial carrier will fly this mission on their aircraft. I doubt their insurance companies nor their crew unions would allow it. Cargo craft are less comfortable but more configurable to the special needs of this sort of flight.