Child Quarantined In Riverside Co. Tests Negative For Coronavirus

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A child who was quarantined at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County and later hospitalized amid concern over the 2019 Novel Coronavirus has been returned to the base.

According to a statement from Riverside County Public Health officials, test results received Wednesday afternoon showed the child was negative for coronavirus. The child, who was accompanied by a parent, was isolated at Riverside University Health System-Medical Center. The two were returned to the base Wednesday by a government vehicle, according to officials.

After showing signs of a fever, the child — whose age and identity were not provided — was transported by ambulance to the hospital with a parent Monday evening "out of an abundance of caution," health officials said.

The parent and child are part of a group of 195 passengers who were flown to March ARB on Jan. 29 from Wuhan, China and placed under a 14-day federal quarantine. The City of Wuhan, which is in the Hubei Province, is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak.

Also on Wednesday, a plane carrying American evacuees from Wuhan arrived at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The plane was one of two flights carrying a total of about 350 American evacuees from Wuhan. Both flights arrived early Wednesday morning at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield in Northern California's Solano County.

One of the planes remained at Travis AFB, where its passengers will undergo a 14-day quarantine ordered by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the other plane headed to MCAS Miramar after refueling.

The San Diego-bound landed at 9:25 a.m. at MCAS Miramar. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were aboard the plane.

The evacuees will be screened by CDC medical personnel and then moved to a quarantine site on the base. They will stay for a federally mandated 14-day quarantine in the base's Consolidated Bachelor's Quarters or Miramar Inn, according to Capt. Matthew Gregory, director of communications for MCAS Miramar.

March ARB has been set up to receive additional quarantine arrivals. Over the weekend, tents were set up at the base to house an additional 250 people.

One person who flew into Los Angeles International Airport on Monday on a flight from China has been placed under federal quarantine and was transferred to the base, health officials confirmed.

"The individual has no symptoms of novel coronavirus, but was moved to March out of an abundance of caution and because of their travel history," Riverside County Public Health officials reported. "The federal quarantine order for this person expires Feb. 6. The individual will be isolated away from the 195 others who arrived last week."

No confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported in Riverside County. As of Wednesday morning, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed 11 cases of the illness in the United States.