On Wednesday, the CDC confirmed another infection with 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the United States, specifically in California. The patient is among a group of people under a federal quarantine order because of their recent return to the U.S. on a State Department-chartered flight that arrived on February 7, 2020.
All people who have been in Hubei Province in the past 14 days are considered at high risk of having been exposed to COVID-19 and subject to a temporary 14-day quarantine. This is the second person at this base who has tested positive for COVID-19. The first and second patients arrived on different planes and were housed in separate facilities; there are no epidemiologic links between them.
According to CDC on-site team lead Dr. Chris Braden, “At this time there is no indication of person-to-person spread of this virus at the quarantine facility, but CDC will carry out a thorough contact investigation as part of its current response strategy to detect and contain any cases of infection with this virus.”
This brings the total of number of COVID-19 cases in the United States to 14. There are likely to be additional cases in the coming days and weeks, including among other people recently returned from Wuhan. While 195 people were discharged from quarantine on Tuesday, more than 600 people who returned on chartered flights from Wuhan remain under federal quarantine.
For the latest information on the outbreak, visit CDC’s Novel Coronavirus 2019 website.
