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Wuhan Airlift Coronavirus Evacuees Quarantined At Travis Air Force Base Released

FAIRFIELD (CBS SF) -- All of the 234 people evacuated from China and quarantined at Travis Air Force Base have been released after remaining free of the new coronavirus, according to officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those evacuees were flown from China by the U.S. State Department and arrived at Travis on Feb. 5 and Feb. 7.

They were released in two batches - one on Tuesday and one on Thursday—following a mandatory 14-day quarantine period, according to CDC spokesman Scott Pauley.

Nationwide, nearly all of the other people flown back to the U.S. and housed at military bases during the quarantine have also been allowed to return home, according to Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Those released are not at risk of spreading the COVID-19 virus because they aren't infected, Messonnier said.

Travis, however, continues to house 167 people who were flown back from Japan on Monday after possibly being exposed to the virus while abord the cruise ship Diamond Princess, Pauley said.

Five other passengers from that ship have tested positive for COVID-19 and 10 are awaiting test results.

All 15 are being cared for or monitored at local hospitals, Pauley said.

Japan has reported that two of its citizens abord the Diamond Princess have died after contracting COVID-19.

Also, two new California cases have been reported, one in Humboldt County and one in Sacramento County, according to local public health officials. The new cases raise the total number of COVID-19 cases in California to 15 including the five confirmed cases from the Diamond Princess.

The CDC reported Friday that there are now 34 confirmed cases in the U.S., most of them people who were evacuated by the U.S. from a cruise ship in Japan over the weekend, Messonnier said.

While the virus isn't spreading in the U.S. at the moment, Messonnier said "it's possible and even likely" that it will.

She added that currently there is no vaccine or medicines to specifically treat this virus. "We recognize the uncertainty of the current situation," Messonnier said.

 

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