Battles erupt as people fight housing coronavirus patients in their cities
LOS ANGELES — The coronavirus has yet to become a major health threat in Orange County. But a proposal to eventually place some patients at a state-owned facility in Costa Mesa has sparked a political battle in which wary residents are speaking in conspiratorial, even apocalyptic terms.
“Expose the hidden agenda to bring coronavirus into our city,” one wrote on a poster board outside a federal courthouse in Santa Ana on Monday.
“Life will end as we know it,” added another.
At the focus of their fury is a proposal to use the Fairview Developmental Center as a coronavirus quarantine site, a notion that drew swift and fierce condemnation from city, county, state and federal officials representing the area.
It’s likely only the first round in a brewing battle — one pitting higherlevel health officials working to stem the spread of the coronavirus known as COVID-19 against the communities expected to play host to those efforts. Officials in Alabama have also been fighting efforts to locate patients in that state, and there even has been rumbling of opposition from people living by quarantine zones near military bases.
But as the number of confirmed cases rockets past 80,000 worldwide, and U.S. health officials warn the disease will inevitably spread stateside at some point, public health experts warn that contending with the fallout from the epidemic’s indirect symptoms — fear, paranoia and misinformation chief among them — may prove just as vital as treating the sickness itself.
“You’re dealing with fear, discrimination and stigma, and that can be much harder to contain and control and move against than the actual virus,” said Dr. Timothy Brewer, a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and of medicine at the university’s David Geffen School of Medicine. “And that’s the big challenge, because that’s not necessarily a discussion you can win with facts and being rational.”
On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offered its most serious warning to date that the United States should expect the coronavirus to become a more serious health issue and that it was time to prepare for it.
“Ultimately, we expect we will see coronavirus spread in this country,” said Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. “It’s not so much a question of if, but a question of when.”
Stock prices dropped sharply Tuesday for the second consecutive day as investors grew increasingly skeptical that the virus would soon be contained and worried about how much it would damage the global economy.
One element of the response is using sites like Fairview to house patients. The 114-acre property once housed thousands of adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities but is now largely empty as the state plans to close the facility.
It’s unclear how many sites are under similar consideration. The California Health and Human Services Agency has confirmed it considered several other possibilities, including the Sonoma Developmental Center, Army National Guard Camp Roberts and closed youth correctional facilities.
“Safely and securely isolating our fellow Californians who are under federal care is an important way to keep all of our communities safe from novel coronavirus, and we will continue to communicate with local partners — both those in Costa Mesa and communities that are being greatly impacted by shortages of hospital isolation beds,” the agency said in a statement.
Regardless, Costa Mesa officials are adamant that Fairview is not a suitable location — citing concerns with public health and a lack of specifics about the proposal. The city has successfully obtained a temporary restraining order to halt the transportation of anyone infected with the coronavirus to the city.
“While we have nothing but compassion for those who are suffering from this virus, the health and welfare of our community is our top priority,” Mayor Katrina Foley said Monday. “Bringing those infected into this densely populated area is simply the wrong approach.”
A similar situation unfolded recently in Alabama, where local and state officials pushed hard against a proposal to potentially locate patients within the city of Anniston.