A child among the 195 Americans quarantined at March Air Reserve Base in California has been hospitalized after developing a fever, but whether the youngster has the new coronavirus has yet to be determined.
Riverside County Department of Health officials said Tuesday that the child and a parent were taken to Riverside University Health System-Medical Center to be tested for the virus, which has infected more than 24,000 people in 25 countries and killed 492, mostly in China.
Results are expected later this week from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Officials say the child “is doing very well.”
A flight carrying evacuees from Wuhan, China, landed last Wednesday at the reserve base, located near Moreno Valley. Passengers are being monitored and will remain in quarantine up to 14 days after the flight left China.
In addition, a traveler who landed at Los Angeles International Airport Monday from China was transferred to March for quarantine.
Four additional flights carrying evacuees from China are scheduled to land Wednesday and Thursday at four additional sites: Travis Air Force Base and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California, Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, according to CDC officials.
RELATED
Defense Secretary Mark Esper approved a request for assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services to add Camp Ashland, in Nebraska, to the list of facilities where Americans will be quarantined. The DoD facility, which is leased by the state of Nebraska, will house up to 75 people
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said Monday that all passengers were screened prior to takeoff and will be screened during the flight. They also will remain in federal quarantine for 14 days from the time they left China.
Messonnier said CDC expects that some passengers will have the illness, known as 2019-nCoV, and “is prepared.”
“We expect continued infections among these and other returning travelers from Wuhan,” Messonnier said. "We have been preparing for an outbreak like this for years. This is the beginning of what could be a long response.
According to Messonnier, more than 200 CDC employees are working at the CDC and the military installations to evaluate, test and monitor for any threat.
RELATED
The number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections in the U.S. remains at 11. The CDC currently is expecting to analyze 76 more tests in the coming days and has found 206 suspected tests negative.
The hospitalized child, Messonnier said, is “doing very well.”
“There are many reasons why children develop fevers," she said.
Patricia Kime is a senior writer covering military and veterans health care, medicine and personnel issues.
