U.S. President Donald Trump undermined U.S. health officials on Wednesday during a press conference on novel coronavirus prevention largely meant as a show of unity behind one consistent message.

Such effort by the administration comes after government and health officials recently offered contrasting assessments on the likelihood of an outbreak in the United States. The country's Center for Disease Control and Prevention said this week that additional infections are "inevitable," while the White House continued to downplay the risk. 

"It's not a question of 'if this will happen' anymore, but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen," CDC Principal Deputy Director Anne Schuchat told reporters during a Department of Health and Human Services press conference on Tuesday. 

When asked whether or not he agreed with the CDC's take, Trump said: "I don't think it's inevitable, I think there's a chance that it could get worse, I think there's a chance it could get fairly, substantially worse. But nothing is inevitable." 

Recent novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreaks outside of China including South Korea, Japan, Italy, and Iran have prompted health officials in the U.S. to sound the alarm and call for greater measures to prepare the country in the event of widespread transmission. 

Read more: U.S. confirms possible community spread of COVID-19

Fears of a COVID-19 pandemic have also sent shockwaves across global markets, potentially souring consumer confidence and threatening the U.S.' booming economy. 

On Monday, the White House asked Congress for 2.5 billion U.S. dollars for response and preparedness. Some congressional Democrats and Republicans want to see a four to 8.5 billion-U.S.-dollar-package, citing concerns over insufficient protective medical supply stocks and medication shortages. 

While most of the media's focus has been on Americans evacuated from Wuhan and quarantined in the U.S., those coming from other parts of China haven't received the same attention.

Read more: Trump says Coronavirus risk to American public is low

Same origin, different accounts

The U.S. CDC announced a series of measures to screen Americans arriving from China for the novel coronavirus on February 2, two days after the Trump administration imposed travel restrictions, and three days after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 "a public health emergency of international concern."

However, CGTN found that such measures were gradually rolled out over the course of a few days.

Although U.S. citizens flying out of Wuhan – the epicenter of COVID-19 outbreak in China – and those stranded on the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan have been quarantined upon arrival, passengers coming from other parts of China gave CGTN differing accounts on screenings and monitoring by health officials.

February 2

"They kept broadcasting on the news here that they were quarantining all fly (sic) [from] China, but that was not really [the] case," said Florida resident Amber Donofrio. 

Donofrio and her husband boarded a non-stop flight from Beijing to Newark, New Jersey on February 2. She said they were not asked to self quarantine or issued any COVID-19 prevention information or follow ups by health officials.

"They did absolutely nothing to check people coming off that flight," she said. 

February 5

Shawn Jones, also a Florida resident who flew from Beijing Capital International Airport with a layover in Japan, said she wasn't screened for illnesses until she landed at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

She said passengers originating from China were first to get off the plane and escorted to a CDC quarantine area where Jones and others were asked to provide personal documentation, travel history and contact information, had their temperatures taken, and had to declare any flu-like symptoms. Jones was then instructed to log any symptoms and record her temperature twice daily for 14 days on a paper issued by the CDC along with other basic preventive information.

Jones was to keep the information she logged in case she were to be contacted for a follow up by the CDC, and she was asked to contact the CDC if any illnesses arose. She completed her self-quarantine without presenting any symptoms and without anyone contacting her during her self-quarantine period. 

"What else could they do? I didn't come from Wuhan or Hubei Province. I didn't have any fever, I didn't have any symptoms," noted Jones. "I thought they did what they could do without basically taking away my rights." 

She plans on returning to China in April to reunite with her husband. 

February 12

Two weeks after the WHO issued its warning on the spread of COVID-19, Robert Hackett boarded a plane in Beijing with his two young sons to Los Angeles, California.

The Hacketts had a layover in Seoul, South Korea where the 45-year-old father noted a sign displayed in English, Chinese, and Korean instructing passengers flying in from China to make a separate line to fill out documentation and travel history forms. But many ignored this sign, he said. 

"It was disturbing to me because I saw many people on my flight that skipped that line," said Hackett. 

Once they boarded their 11-hour flight to LAX, Hackett noticed only about a fifth of the passengers were wearing face masks.

"There was nothing about coronavirus or CDC (after landing) until we got to the border checkpoint where they actually check your passport and enter the country." 

Hackett's concern is the exposure by those flying from China to the rest of the traveling population at airports and during flights. 

As with Jones, the Hacketts were taken to a quarantine area along with 10 other passengers where they were screened for symptoms and to record their contact information. He was issued a body temperature log sheet and an informational flyer about coronavirus that read in part: "Travelers should stay home and monitor their health within this 14-day period." 

"What does it mean stay at home?" Hackett wondered, unsure how to interpret the instruction. 

He and his sons have stayed at home for most of the day and avoid crowded places "as common courtesy" but said he doesn't doubt other people in his situation aren't following the instruction to a 'T.'

"The wording... is shockingly ambiguous given the media coverage about quarantining, about the cruise ship," he said. "We're taking our own precautions, but nowhere in any of that stuff did it say 'hey, make sure you stay away from the elderly or the very young.'" 

Unlike Jones, Hackett said he wasn't told he needed to report his log sheet to anyone or that anyone would be calling him.

"On the one hand it's like 'wow, really this is it?' On the other hand I'm kind of 'well, I'm no expert but maybe this is all overblown,'" he said. 

February 16

Vincent Vinci is another American who flew back home from Beijing to Phoenix, Arizona on February 16. His experience differs from Jones' and Hackett's in that the information he provided at LAX was input into what Vinci described as a "glitchy software program" that he was told by CDC staff "had been unveiled the day before." 

While being screened by CDC, Vinci was told he would be contacted by a county doctor on his first day of self-quarantine. Vinci received a phone call and was told he was considered "'medium risk' based on my travel to China alone," he said. 

Vinci was to report his temperature logs via an online survey before noon each day, and stay isolated from others for two weeks. 

"I was told if I didn't submit the survey at noon I'd get a follow up email or call," he said, noting he submitted the survey over an hour late the next day but never got a follow up call. 

The surveys have been consistently emailed to him each day since. 

Read more: New COVID-19 cases outside China exceed those in China: WHO

CGTN reached out to the U.S. CDC for comment on the seemingly inconsistent screening methods, to which the CDC replied in an email saying it had to decline the request as it had "very limited availability with subject matters experts for interviews." 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on Tuesday that it has helped repatriate approximately 1,100 Americans from China and the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

In response to questions raised during Wednesday's press conference at the White House whether the administration is performing adequate screenings, Trump said: "We're testing everybody that we need to test and we're finding very little problem."

Trump appointed Vice-President Mike Pence on Wednesday to oversee the COVID-19 response. The next day the U.S. reported its first novel coronavirus infection with no links to China. The U.S. has registered at least 60 confirmed infections as of Wednesday.