The U.S. is placing 195 Americans who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, under a mandatory 14-day quarantine in an effort to limit the spread of a deadly new coronavirus, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday. The evacuees are currently being housed at March Air Reserve Base in California – and the quarantine order comes after one of them tried to leave the base.
"The HHS secretary has issued federal quarantine orders for all 195 passengers," said Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She added that the quarantine's 14-day period began with their removal from Wuhan earlier this week.
The quarantine was announced one day after the World Health Organization declared the Wuhan coronavirus to be a global health emergency. Earlier, the State Department warned Americans not to travel to China, issuing its highest-level safety advisory due to concerns about the deadly respiratory virus.
"While we recognize this is an unprecedented action, we are facing an unprecedented public health threat," Messonnier said. "And this is one of the tools in our toolbox to mitigate the potential impact of this novel virus on the United States."
It's the first time the CDC has issued a quarantine order in more than 50 years, she added. The agency was established in 1946.
There are currently six confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S., including two cases in Illinois that represent the first person-to-person transmission in the country.
The federal coronavirus quarantine replaces an initial three-day holding period CDC officials had announced after the chartered flight landed at the base in Riverside County, east of Los Angeles.
On Thursday, Riverside County health officials issued their own quarantine orderfor one of the passengers from the charter flight. That passenger had attempted to leave the base.
The 14-day quarantine will protect the health of the evacuees, their families and their communities, Messonnier said.
"These individuals will continue to be held at the March Air Reserve Base in Ontario, California," she said, adding, "We do not believe their presence on the base poses a threat to the residents of Ontario."
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