San Antonia, TX - Feb 2020: Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control's division of high consequence pathogens and pathology, holds her notes as she speaks at a news conference relating to U.S. citizens being evacuated from China due to a viral outbreak, in San Antonio, . McQuiston said Lackland Air For Base in San Antonio is preparing to quarantine as many as 250 people who expected as soon as Friday, Feb 7. Image: Eric Gay/AP/Shutterstock
By: FEDweek StaffThe Defense Department is providing housing support for roughly 250 persons evacuated to the U.S. from China who need to be quarantined and explained how they will be housed.
Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced that the evacuees would be housed at Fort Carson, Colorado, Travis Air Force Base, California, Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California. Pentagon support is to be limited to housing.
The Department of Health and Human Services – the lead federal agency for the operation – is to provide all care, security and transportation. The evacuees are to have access only to their housing and not be allowed into any other locations on the bases.
Each evacuee will be monitored for 14 days, according to protocols set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Sick persons would be treated at local civilian hospitals.
DoD stated that its primary responsibility is the safety of its force, families and base communities, and that personnel are to follow guidance in the memorandum: Force Health Protection Guidance for the Novel Coronavirus Outbreak to mitigate risk.
