Wuhan Passenger Quarantined After Trying To Leave March Air Base

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A person who arrived Wednesday morning at March Air Reserve Base from Wuhan, China, tried to leave the base without being cleared by health officials, Riverside County Public Health said Thursday. In response, county health officials issued a quarantine order for the unnamed passenger.

The quarantine comes as officials work to prevent a U.S. outbreak of the new coronavirus.

"Riverside County Public Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser issued the order requiring the person to stay for the entire incubation period or until otherwise cleared. This action was taken as a result of the unknown risk to the public should someone leave MARB early without undergoing a full health evaluation," according to the county public health announcement.

"The individual will remain at MARB until their health status is confirmed," the announcement continued. "All other passengers from the flight also remain at MARB and continue to be evaluated."

A State Department-chartered aircraft carrying 195 U.S. citizens from the Wuhan region of China, center of the deadly new coronavirus outbreak, arrived Wednesday at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside. Local officials said steps are being taken to ensure there is no threat to public health.

The plane touched down at March ARB at 8:11 a.m. The passengers remained at the base and were cordoned off from military personnel. While they were not under mandatory quarantine orders, they were expected to remain under observation at the base for 72 hours.

The passengers are being checked for temperature and respiratory symptoms every 12 hours over the three days, health officials said.

Christopher Braden, a deputy director at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that after the three-day evaluation period, passengers will have the option to go home but that they will continue to be monitored for the remainder of the virus' two-week incubation period by their local public health agency.

"If we think that a person is a danger to the community, we can institute an individual quarantine for that person, and we will," Braden said Wednesday.

The plane first landed in Anchorage, Alaska, for a refueling stop and, preliminary screening of passengers was conducted by CDC personnel about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. Passengers were also monitored throughout the flight, and none of them was deemed high-risk, said Dr. Nancy Knight, director of the CDC's Division of Global Health Protection.

Among the passengers were nine children, the youngest of whom is 1 month old.

The flight was originally scheduled to land at Ontario International Airport, but the CDC announced the new landing site for the aircraft Tuesday night.

Many passengers on the flight work at the U.S. Consulate in Wuhan. The original flight manifest stated that 240 passengers were aboard the flight, but officials said some people did not show up or did not have the proper documentation to board. One person had a fever and had to stay behind in China.

State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said the effort to bring the U.S. citizens home was made possible "through close collaboration between the Department of State, the CDC, HHS, the Department of Defense, and state and local authorities. We appreciate the PRC [People's Republic of China] government's efforts related to this evacuation.

"We remain committed to doing everything we can to protect the health and welfare of U.S. citizens overseas, including those remaining in Wuhan, and are working closely with PRC authorities to offer them all possible assistance," Ortagus said. "We continue to encourage U.S. citizens to review our China Travel Advisory at Travel.State.gov, and to closely monitor and follow the guidance of local health authorities."

Braden said that although little is known about the new coronavirus, the risk of infection for people in the United States is low.

The new coronavirus outbreak was first detected in December in the industrial city of Wuhan in the Hubei province of central China. Since then, almost 9,700 cases have been reported in China, with at least 213 deaths, and the virus has been confirmed in patients in a handful of other nations, including the United States.

The Riverside County Emergency Management Department set up a dedicated phone line to answer residents' questions about coronavirus at 951-358-5134.

—City News Service contributed to this report.