Nearly 200 Americans evacuated two weeks ago from Wuhan, China, amid the ongoing coronavirus outbreak have been released from quarantine in Riverside County Tuesday.
The 195 evacuees have been under observation for 14 days at March Air Reserve Base, and none have tested positive for the virus in that time, the Riverside University Health System Medical Center stated in a news release.
The quarantine period concluded after the final health check of all the passengers, at which time all were cleared and deemed safe to go back to their homes, according to Rear Admiral Knight from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“They pose no health risk to themselves, to their families, to their places of work, to schools, or their communities. No health risk of novel coronavirus from these individuals whatsoever,” she said at a noon news conference.
During the quarantine, two children were hospitalized after developing a fever but neither ever tested positive for coronavirus, officials said.
The quarantine period officially ended at 9:30 a.m., a Riverside County Public Health official told KTLA.
Some of the passengers celebrated by tossing their face masks into the air.
“This is a huge celebration for all of us here at March Air Reserve Base,” Knight said.
Some of the 195 guests toss their face masks in celebration as they prepare to depart March Air Reserve Base. #rivconow #ruhealth #coronavirus pic.twitter.com/vrMIZTa1ez
— Dr. Cameron Kaiser (@RivCoDoc) February 11, 2020
All of the evacuees are expected to be processed Tuesday morning before they can be taken by bus to either Los Angeles International Airport or Ontario International Airport.
Some of the travelers will stay at the base for an extra day because their travel plans couldn’t be completed by Wednesday, officials said.
The coronavirus has infected more than 43,000 people worldwide, with the death toll passing 1,000 people on Monday.
The 13th case in the United States, and seventh in California, was confirmed Monday in San Diego.
The person, an adult, was being treated in isolation at UC San Diego Medical Center.
