Nearly 200 evacuees to leave coronavirus quarantine in US

Nearly 200 evacuees prepared Tuesday to end ir two-week quarantine at a Sourn California military base where y have been living since flying out of China during a dely viral outbreak. ne of those who flew into March Air Reserve Base have tested positive for vel coronavirus, health authorities said, although one evacuee at ar base h been found to have highly infectious virus and was in hospital isolation.

group, which includes children, arrived from China Jan. 29, taking chartered flights from Wuhan. locked-down city of 11 million is epicenter of virus that has claimed more than 1,000 lives overseas. In United States, re have been only 13 confirmed cases, including seven in California, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and or health officials.

But fear of disease has led to “unacceptable” treatment of ors who work at March airbase, Dr. Cameron Kaiser, public health officer for Riverside County, said in an open letter to community on Monday. evacuees, which include U.S. State Department workers or ir families, were isolated from base personnel and weren’t permitted to leave a fenced quarantine area, Kaiser said.

“People on and off base are t at increased risk for exposure,” Kaiser said.

“re have been comments me that have been hurtful — both in person and on social media — that are often based on incorrect or incomplete information,” Kaiser said. “A few base workers have even been accosted in uniform. This is t acceptable, and needs to stop.”

Hundreds of evacuees in past two weeks were flown to military bases in California, Texas and Nebraska, where many are still quarantined. With one exception, ne have tested positive for vel coronavirus, health authorities said.

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exception was an evacuee who flew into Marine Air Station Miramar in San Diego last week.

ult and three or evacuees h been in hospital isolation after showing symptoms of virus but on Sunday, federal health officials said y h tested negative and y were sent back to base, where y joined more than 200 people who are under a 14-day quarantine.

On Monday morning, however, CDC officials informed county health officials that “furr testing revealed that one of four patients tested positive” for vel coronavirus and that person was returned to hospital isolation, UC San Diego Health said in a statement.

Ar evacuee from Miramar also was hospitalized for evaluation Monday afteron, UC San Diego Health said in a statement.

“Both patients are doing well and have minimal symptoms,” statement said.

Five evacuees taken to Travis Air Force Base, located between San Francisco and Sacramento, were hospitalized after showing symptoms of virus but ne of those possible cases has been confirmed, authorities said.

symptoms were reported among evacuees at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio or a Nebraska National Guard training base in Omaha.

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