Coronavirus Patient Transferred To Hospital In Marin County

MARIN COUNTY, CA — A patient with the new coronavirus is being isolated at a hospital in Marin County, county officials announced Thursday. The patient was not infected in Marin, and no cases have been identified in Marin, officials added.

The patient with the virus, now known as COVID-19, was transferred Wednesday night from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County. The patient, who is not showing any symptoms but tested positive for the virus, is one of the evacuees from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention agreement with the Department of Defense requires any evacuee who tests positive to be moved from the base. Marin and other Bay Area counties are accepting these patients to reduce the burden on the Solano County health care system.

The hospital and Marin County Public Health are working with the CDC and the California Department of Public Health to coordinate testing and monitoring.

"The transfer of this patient into a Marin County hospital should not be a cause for alarm," said Dr. Matt Willis, the county's health officer. "Since January, we have been working closely with local healthcare providers, CDPH and CDC to minimize the impact to our county. Our county's health system is ready to care for COVID-19 patients."

No further details about the patient or the hospital will be released in order to protect the medical privacy of the patient and hospital staff, officials said.