Delta Waives Change Fees For Overseas Flights Over Coronavirus

ATLANTA, GA — Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines said Monday that customers traveling outside the U.S. will be able to waive change fees. The offer is good one time only and includes flights to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Delta said the decision was made due to coronavirus concerns. The waivers will apply to any flights between March 1 - 31 to any international destination the airline serves.

Flights have been suspended to and from China, with limited flights to South Korea and Italy.

“As concerns continue about COVID-19, we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety and welfare of customers,” the company said in a public statement.

“Delta is in constant contact with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, the world's foremost experts on communicable diseases, as well as health officials in the affected areas, and we are following their guidance.”

Two cases of the new coronavirus have been confirmed in Georgia in Fulton County. Gov. Brian Kemp held a late night news conference Monday alongside Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey and state officials.

One of the individuals had recently returned from Milan, Italy and experienced symptoms a few days later. Both of the affected patients are in the same home under self-quarantine, Toomey said.

He announced Friday that he had formed a new coronavirus task force for Georgia. It will assess the state's preparations and procedures for preventing, identifying, and if needed, addressing cases of COVID-19, which originated in Wuhan, China. It's caused by a member of the coronavirus that's a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses.

Toomey says the state's lab now has what it needs to begin testing on its own later this week, which would cut the testing time for new coronavirus from days to just hours, WSB reported. In the past week, only the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has been able to administer the test.

Globally, more than 90,000 people have been infected and over 3,200 people have died from the new coronavirus, Johns Hopkins reported Monday night. Of that total, about 80,000 cases are in China, while the entire United States has 86 confirmed cases to date.

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• Coronavirus: Fulton County Schools Plan For Potential Outbreak