SAN ANTONIO -- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the San Antonio Metropolitan Health District (Metro Health) confirmed two cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on Friday.
- Two patients among Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Federal evacuees
- First cohort of quarantined group has been released
On February 13, the CDC confirmed one case among a group of people under a federal quarantine order at JBSA-Lackland in San Antonio after a chartered flight arrived on February 7.
READ MORE | CDC Confirms Coronavirus Disease at JBSA-Lackland
The current cases among the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship Federal evacuees are also under federal quarantine order at Lackland Air Force Base. This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Bexar County to three.
The CDC expects additional confirmed cases of COVID-19 from within the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship cohort, as they also did from the original group of people. That group was released from quarantine in the past week.
The patients have continued to be kept in maximum level isolation from the general public and the rest of the evacuees. At this time, the risk to the public remains low.
The DSHS has supported the effort with use of their state-owned Texas Center for Infectious Disease (TCID) hospital to treat patients with symptoms of COVID-19. This facility specializes in infectious disease control and treatment.
READ MORE | Lackland AFB in San Antonio Named as Quarantine Site Amid Coronavirus Outbreak
An estimated 400 United States citizens were on board the cruise ship when they were evacuated and flown back to the United States on two separate planes chartered by the State Department—one plane landed at Travis AFB in California and the other carrying 151 passengers landed at Lackland AFB just before 4 a.m. on February 17.
Of those passengers, 144 citizens exited from the aircraft, were assessed and transported to Lackland Air Force Base, in a separate housing area from the previous cohort of travelers who arrived on February 7.
For the latest information on the outbreak, visit CDC’s COVID-2019 website.