Many have heard of the new Coronavirus, a virus that has taken hundreds of lives and spread to thousands of people. The main source of transmission of this virus is through air travel - people who contracted the disease flew out of China and spread the disease to others they came in contact with. What makes the virus so difficult to chase is the incubation period - it takes about 14 days before any symptoms of the virus show. This means that people with the virus could travel out of China unnoticed by airport health officials. 

The outbreak of this virus has caused many people to avoid travel to China, where the epicenter of the virus is located. Flights to China have been nearly empty, as people do not want to risk contracting the virus. 

San Francisco (SFO) - Beijing Capital (PEK) [Blue: Open]

Washington-Dulles (IAD) - Beijing Capital (PEK) [Blue: Open]

Airlines are also considering cancelling flights due to the increased chance of infected passengers on flights departing China. Also, because of the empty flights, airlines are not making revenue off of these flights, so temporarily cancelling these flights would save the airlines money and time. Also, if it is the case that an infected passenger flew on a specific flight, the aircraft would have to be quarantined, which would stop it from generating more revenue. It would also mean that the airline would have to pay for the aircraft to undergo a full cleaning, which would also cost a large sum of money.

Many flights out of Wuhan, the virus's epicenter, have been cancelled

Scientists and health officials are doing their best to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. The vaccine for this virus is expected to take anywhere around three months, so controlling it at this stage is crucial.