Los Angeles – About 200 Americans evacuated from Wuhan (China) on Tuesday left the military base in southern California where they were in a quarantine of 14 days that ended without anyone being diagnosed with the new strain of the coronavirus.
The 195 people, including several children, were part of the first group of evacuees from the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the United States.
The March Air Reserve Base military base in Riverside, located about 110 kilometers from downtown Los Angeles, housed the evacuees since last February 29, where they were kept under strict medical surveillance.
RELATEDDuring the quarantine period, two children had fever and were taken to the Riverside University Medical Center, where they were placed in isolation for observation.
The two children later returned with their parents to the military base after laboratory tests ruled out the spread of the virus.
The evacuees were taken by buses to the airports of Ontario and Los Angeles from where they traveled to their homes in the states of Florida, Texas and New York, among other destinations.
Local media showed a photograph provided by the health authorities, where the group is seen on their backs throwing the caps in the air in celebration of the end of the quarantine.
The presence of this group in the facilities of the base unleashed attacks against workers of the base in days gone by the fear of the population that they could infect neighbors of the region, reason why the health authorities were forced to send a Public letter to the community this Monday.
“Please understand that people inside and outside the base do not have a higher risk of exposure to the new virus,” said public health official Cameron Kaiser.
The end of the quarantine at Riverside contrasts with the situation at a Miramar military station in San Diego, where a group of evacuees arrived on February 5
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed Monday that one of the Americans tested positive for the virus.
The patient is one of four people, including a minor, who were hospitalized after they showed symptoms related to the disease after arriving from China, where 42,708 people have been diagnosed with the disease and 1,018 have died from this condition.
The initial results were negative, and the four patients were discharged from the University of California hospital in San Diego and returned to quarantine at military facilities.
However, on Monday CDC informed the San Diego Department of Public Health that additional tests revealed that one of the four patients had tested positive for the presence of the virus.
The patient was admitted again to the University hospital, where he is isolated and under the observation of medical personnel, under the supervision of the CDC, who have confirmed 13 cases of coronavirus in the United States, seven of which have been identified in California.