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March Air Reserve Base Workers Accosted in Person, Online Amid Unfounded Fears About Coronavirus

Personnel in biological hazard suits welcome passengers evacuated from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the heart of a growing outbreak of the deadly 2019 Novel Coronavirus shortly after the plane landed at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County on Jan. 29, 2020. (Credit: MATT HARTMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Workers at March Air Reserve Base and their families have been verbally attacked in person and on social media by people fearing their proximity to the 195 Americans under quarantine at the base after fleeing China amid the coronavirus outbreak, Riverside County officials said Monday.

“Please understand that people on and off the base are not at increased risk for exposure to the new virus, and we don’t restrict people who don’t actually pose any risk,” public health officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser said in a letter to the community.

“They have had no contact with the evacuees, whose area is fully separated from base personnel. You do not need to exclude household or family members of MARB personnel, nor do you need to require them to obtain unnecessary ‘clearance letters’ from a physician or health authority. They pose no greater risk than anyone else.”

Kaiser said that some base workers have been accosted while in uniform.

Read the full story on LATimes.com