Fairfield air base selected to house traveler evacuees
Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield is one of four military bases chosen to house travelers returning from overseas and being monitored for the new coronavirus that has sickened 11 Americans and more than 17,000 in China, where it originated.
The base’s main lodging facility will house about 250 travelers through February if needed, said Capt. Amanda Farr, a spokeswoman for the base.
The base is expected to solely provide housing — federal officials are to handle all care, transportation and security of evacuees. Farr emphasized that evacuees who stay at the base will be screened before boarding a flight to the U.S., monitored in flight, screened again when they land on American soil and monitored while at the base.
“Folks are worried, and we understand that,” Farr said. “But our leadership is 100% engaged in working” with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The announcement came Saturday, a day after health officials in Santa Clara County confirmed
the first case of the virus in Northern California. A second case was announced in the county Sunday, and two more cases were diagnosed in neighboring San Benito County. Health officials said the risk to the public remained low.
Airmen and other personnel at Travis Air Force Base will not have contact with the travelers, who will not be allowed anywhere on the base other than the housing facilities, officials said. The living area will be cordoned off for the safety of personnel on base and the privacy of people staying there.
“We are making sure there is a designated lodging area,” Farr said. “We are only being asked to provide lodging.”
Farr said she did not know exactly where the evacuees would come from or when they would arrive. Base officials had not received an estimated timeline, she said.
More than 360 people have died from the virus in China.
Two people have tested positive for the virus in Southern California — one in Orange County, one in Los Angeles County. Washington state, Massachusetts and Arizona each have one patient.
A woman who recently returned to Illinois from China was also among the infected in the U.S. Her husband, who got the illness from her, is the first person infected by humantohuman transmission in the nation.
The other bases are Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio and the 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute in Fort Carson, Colo. They were selected by the Department of Defense after a request from the Department of Health and Human Services.