But with cases climbing, top Trump administration officials have sharply escalated their response amid fears of a contagion coming to the US. Travel officials have struggled to adopt to new rules, and state and local officials say they haven't gotten sufficient guidance from federal authorities. Trump's sign-off on the stricter measures came a week after several top administration officials began arguing for a travel ban, according to two administration officials, only to face pushback from others in the administration. "There were a variety of folks who thought that was where we should go, but the medical science wasn't there yet," a senior administration official said. And inside the administration, a consensus began to form, a senior administration official said.

Source: CNN February 07, 2020 13:30 UTC