U.S. military officials say two jets carrying about 350 Americans fleeing the virus zone in China have landed at Travis Air Force base in Northern California
FAIRFIELD, Calif. —
Two jets carrying about 350 Americans fleeing the virus zone in China landed Wednesday morning at an Air Force base in Northern California. Some will be quarantined at a hotel on the base for 14 days while others will go under quarantine at a Southern California military base, officials said.
Guests and staff at the hotel on Travis Air Force Base near the city of Fairfield, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from San Francisco, were moved out ahead of the planes’ arrival, said Technical Sgt. Traci Keller. The Americans were evacuated from the Chinese city of Wuhan, which is at the center of the new virus outbreak.
Other planes carrying Americans home from Wuhan will arrive this week at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska, where they will be quarantined, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said in a statement.
The U.S. Northern Command tweeted that the planes that arrived in California carried about 350 people. Keller had no information about their health, but CDC officials were expected later Wednesday to provide more information about the evacuees.
One of the planes was scheduled to leave Travis Air Force Base later Wednesday to take Americans to the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego, where those people will also quarantined for 14 days, the U.S. Northern Command said.
The Americans were evacuated a week after another jet with 195 American evacuees from Wuhan arrived at March Air Reserve base in Southern California. They were also quarantined for 14 days.
The new virus is a member of the coronavirus family that’s a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have caused outbreaks in the past.