Stillwater Pharmacist Home After Helping Wuhan, China Evacuees

MAPLE GROVE, MN — A pharmacist from Stillwater has returned home from Miramar Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) in San Diego after providing medical support for individuals who the U.S. government evacuated from Wuhan, China. Wuhan is the epicenter of an ongoing outbreak of a novel coronavirus known as CODIV-19.

The returning passengers were housed on the military base while undergoing a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Mary Zweber serves as a member of the National Disaster Medical System's (NDMS) Disaster Medical Assistance Team. During and after disasters and emergencies, professionals from NDMS may supplement the public health and medical response at the request of the state.

NDMS can be called into action to provide temporary medical assistance to U.S. citizens and their dependents who have been identified by the Department of State as having returned, or been brought from a foreign country, to the U.S. because of illness, war, threat of war, or a similar crisis.

Two planes transporting evacuees from Wuhan, China, landed at Miramar MCAS. The first plane landed on Feb. 5 and the second on Feb. 7.

"The 232 returning passengers were tired, but very thankful the U.S. government brought them to the U.S.," said Dr. Helga Scharf-Bell, NDMS Acting Director, in a statement.

"NDMS personnel along with U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps were onsite and worked in collaboration with the CDC to ensure that those returning were continuously monitored during the 14-day quarantine. NDMS responders rapidly and appropriately assessed, cared for, and isolated anyone who presented with symptoms of CODIV-19."

HHS deployed 160 personnel — including physicians, nurses, paramedics, IT specialists, public affairs specialist, and experienced command and control staff — to Miramar MCAS. A total of 682 HHS personnel have deployed to five military bases the Department of Defense identified to house evacuees returning on one of the five DoD chartered flights from Wuhan.

"The response to this rapidly evolving outbreak required a tremendous amount of interagency support, collaboration, and coordination," said Jonathan Greene, ASPR's Emergency Management and Medical Operations Director.

"Within days, HHS and ASPR worked across the U.S. Government to identify housing, appropriate quarantine requirements, and wrap-around services for more than evacuees that have returned to the United States."

The temporary 14-day quarantine order began when the plane left Wuhan. The quarantine is part of an aggressive public health response, with the goal of detecting and minimizing introductions of this virus in the United States. The order also will protect the health of the returning citizens, their families, and their communities, officials said in a news release.