Chinese students in US wary of coronavirus

Many Chinese students say they are concerned that parents, siblings and other relatives living in China could be exposed to the coronavirus as the outbreak escalates there.These concerns are on show at Massachusetts universities, a very popular destination for students from China.

Other students say that the fact that their relatives are not yet infected convinces them that news reports of the outbreak are blown out of proportion.That is despite the fact that a Boston University student who became sick after returning from China became the first confirmed coronavirus case in Massachusetts.

The Chinese Consul General in New York, Huang Ping, who also represents China to Massachusetts, urged people to remain calm, follow the travel restrictions and allow the World Health Organization's scientific protocols to stop the virus from spreading.

China sends more students to the United States than any other country, having poured nearly 369,600 students in the 2018/19 academic years.

That's according to the Institute of International Education, whose data also show that schools in Massachusetts are among their most popular destination, with Northeastern University and Boston University accounting for nearly 26,700 Chinese students.

Officials at Northeastern University, the country's third leading foreign student host institution, urge students who become sick within two weeks of traveling to China not to go directly to hospitals to avoid spreading the illness.

Those students, officials advised in electronic messages, should call the university police department's 24-hour hotline to get guidance on what they should do to get medical attention.Universities and other schools around the country have suspended programs in China and are strongly discouraging faculty and students from traveling to the country.

(Image Credit: AP)