A child who was hospitalized with a fever this week after landing in Riverside County with a group of Americans fleeing the coronavirus in China has tested negative for the highly contagious illness, public health officials said Wednesday.
An ambulance took the child, accompanied by a parent, to the Riverside University Health System Medical Center in Moreno Valley Tuesday for observation after he or she developed a fever. But after tests came back negative, the pair returned to March Air Reserve Base, where they’ve been quarantined since last Wednesday, according to the county Department of Public Health.
All 195 Americans being housed at the base after returning from Wuhan will remain under quarantine until Feb. 14.
There’s now six confirmed coronavirus patients being treated across California, but none of them are tied to the group at the Riverside County base.
About 350 more Americans arrived from China at two other California military bases Wednesday, Travis Air Force Base in the Bay Area and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. They will similarly be quarantined for two weeks.
There are 11 confirmed cases of the virus in the U.S., but more than 28,000 cases worldwide — the vast majority of them in China, where 563 people have died, according to the World Health Organization.