A plane carrying American evacuees from the Wuhan region of China, where the deadly coronavirus was first detected, arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Wednesday morning and was met by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention medical personnel.
The plane was one of two flights carrying a total of about 350 American evacuees from Wuhan, both of which arrived Wednesday morning at Travis Air Force Base in Northern California’s Solano County. One of the planes remained at Travis and the other continued on to MCAS Miramar after refueling, arriving in San Diego at 9:25 a.m.
The passengers on both flights will undergo a 14-day quarantine ordered by the CDC.
Upon arrival, and continuing throughout the quarantine period, CDC medical personnel screen each passenger individually, including temperature checks and observing respiratory behavior.
“We continue to believe the immediate risk of coronavirus exposure to the general public is low, however, CDC is undertaking these measures to help keep that risk low,” the agency said in a statement released Wednesday morning.
The evacuees willreside for the federally mandated quarantine period in the base’s Consolidated Bachelor’s Quarters or Miramar Inn, said Capt. Matthew Gregory, director of communications for MCAS Miramar.
During their stay at the base, the evacuees will be provided food, water and other items by the Department of Health and Human Services. Department of Defense personnel will not have direct contact with any of those returning from China, Gregory said.
Nearly 200 Americans arrived at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside on Jan. 29 and are quarantined there after being evacuated from Wuhan.
A child among the group was taken to Riverside University Medical Center on Monday night after developing a fever, but a county health department statement issued on Tuesday afternoon stressed that the transfer was “out of an abundance of caution” and not because there was any positive indication of coronavirus, which has to be verified through serology tests.
Laboratory samples will be sent to the CDC, with results available later in the week, according to health officials.
The coronavirus epidemic has claimed at least 490 lives, with more than 24,000 infections documented in China. The respiratory illness is treatable, and many patients are recovering, according to reports.
There have been 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the U.S., with six of those in California, including one case each in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Temporary quarantine and processing sites have been established at major airports, including LAX.
The virus was first identified by the Chinese government on Dec. 31, when authorities indicated an unknown pneumonia variant was infecting residents of Hubei province.