1st San Diego Coronavirus Case Mistakenly Released From Hospital

SAN DIEGO — An evacuee from China now confirmed to be the first case of the new coronavirus in San Diego had been released from a local hospital after an initial test determined the patient did not have the deadly respiratory illness.

The evacuee arrived on a flight from Wuhan, China, last week at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego. The patient was among four hospitalized after showing possible symptoms of the illness. An initial test by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that all four patients tested negative for the illness. They were released Sunday and returned to continue a 14-day quarantine at MCAS Miramar, according to UC San Diego Health.

"This morning, CDC officials advised San Diego Public Health that further testing revealed that one of the four patients tested positive for 2019-nCoV (novel coronavirus)," UC San Diego Health said in a statement Monday. "The confirmed positive patient was returned to UC San Diego Health for observation and isolation until cleared by the CDC for release."

The CDC is conducting a thorough investigation of the person to determine contacts and to assess if those contacts had high-risk exposures, according to Ana Toro, a CDC public affairs officer.

The case is the 13th coronavirus in the U.S. and seventh in California. Los Angeles and Orange counties both have one confirmed patient.

An additional patient from MCAS Miramar was taken to UC San Diego Health on Monday afternoon for evaluation.

"As per CDC instruction, patients being evaluated will remain admitted until the test results are confirmed by the CDC," the health care system said in a statement. "Both patients are doing well and have minimal symptoms."

The first plane carrying 167 evacuees from the Wuhan area landed Wednesday at Miramar. Four of the passengers had been taken to Rady Children's Hospital and UC San Diego Health after showing potential symptoms of the illness. Another person from the flight was hospitalized the following day for observation.

On Friday, a second plane carrying 65 evacuees from Wuhan arrived at Miramar. Two of the passengers were later hospitalized for observation.

More than 1,000 deaths from the coronavirus have been reported, all but two of them in China. More than 43,000 cases of the illness have been reported worldwide, the vast majority of them also in China.

The new virus is a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.

City News Service contributed to this report.