The World Health Organization has declared the coronavirus to be a global health emergency.

The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed the first human-to-human transfer of the virus in the United States. It was in Illinois.

While more reports are likely, health officials are still confident cases can be contained. Tests for the virus have been negative in the New York State so far.

Proactive steps are being taken to keep it that way.

In New Hartford, the Oneida Herkimer Madison BOCES' Chinese Language and Culture Initiative program includes students in schools across the state through interactive video conferencing.

A trip to China is one of its highlights.

"One of the capstone experiences of that program is a trip to China that we offer every two years, primarily to juniors and seniors, and this year 30 students were signed up to attend and go to China, but the coronavirus has everyone concerned," said the district's superintendent, Patricia Kilburn.

So they canceled the trip.

"The scientific community hasn't yet been able to kind of nail this down with specific information about it, and-or its potential impact and spread, we just felt it was the best decision to cancel the trip for this year," Kilburn said.

Kilburn said it all comes down to safety. She said parents have been understanding of the situation.

"There was a meeting that took place on Monday where members of the BOCES organization had conversations with families about the decisions to cancel, and families had expressed relief. People were concerned," Kilburn said.

Kilburn said families will be reimbursed for their expenses.

It looks like field trips, for now, are off the table, but there are ideas of possibly bringing in a Chinese artist to give the students a taste of the culture.

The White House has announced the creation of a special task force to deal with the threat of the coronavirus. The goal is to monitor and contain the spread of the virus.

The State Department announced that the United States is planning more flights to evacuate Americans from Wuhan, China next week.