White House monitoring outbreaks in China but sees nothing out of the ordinary

The White House says it is monitoring the surge in respiratory illness in China but there is no indication of a link between people seeking care in U.S. emergency departments and the outbreak in Beijing and surrounding regions.

Based on its provisional assessment, the U.S. and other countries are seeing seasonal trends in respiratory illnesses and nothing is out of the ordinary, a Biden administration official said Monday.

Hospitals in northern China have seen a surge of respiratory patients, particularly children, sparking here-we-go-again fears among some U.S. lawmakers after the communist government suppressed early signs of COVID-19 in late 2019.

A group of Senate Republicans urged President Biden last week to suspend travel with China until the U.S. learns more.

But the administration and medical experts are trying to allay those fears. They pointed to similar outbreaks of respiratory viruses in Europe, including known seasonal pathogens such as respiratory syncytial virus and a bacteria known as Mycoplasma pneumoniae, which often affects children.