Riverside County Resident Evacuated From Cruise Ship In Japan Tests Positive For Coronavirus
RIVERSIDE (CBSLA) — A Riverside County resident tested positive for the coronavirus after being evacuated from a Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined off the coast of Japan, county health officials confirmed Tuesday.
The unidentified patient was being treated in Northern California and "is expected to fully recover," according to health officials.
The infected person was being closely monitored and there was no indication of local exposures in the county, Riverside County's public health officer Cameron Kaiser reported.
In South Korea the first U.S. military soldier tested positive for the virus, the Associated Press announced. According to the U.S. military, the soldier was in self-quarantine at his off-base residence.
Orange County locals and county leaders continued Tuesday to push back against a state and federal plan to transfer an unknown number of patients infected with the coronavirus to Costa Mesa's Fairview Developmental Center.
A small group of protesters gathered to keep the patients from arriving at the state-owned site which is located within a mile of thousands of apartments and houses, major retail centers, the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club, the Orange County Fairgrounds, Vanguard University, the Costa Mesa police department, and City Hall.
"The truth is we don't know enough about this virus after being in here they can be transferred to hospitals in the area," said one protester.
On Sunday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement that Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu may receive American travelers coming through LAX who would be quarantined to be monitored for symptoms of coronavirus.
The coronavirus is not currently spreading in U.S. communities, according to the statement. Both the CDC and HHS have said that person-to-person spread of coronavirus in the U.S. has only been seen among close contacts of returned travelers from Wuhan.
The coronavirus, known as COVID-19, originated in China and has killed more than 2,700 people. More than 80 thousand cases have been reported, including 57 in the U.S.
As of Tuesday, there were no confirmed cases of the virus in Riverside County.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
