Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) today confirmed two cases of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in patients being treated at hospitals in the county.
The patients were transported to Contra Costa County early this morning from Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, where some international travelers have been recently quarantined because they may have been exposed to the virus.
The patients, who were among the recent U.S. evacuees from the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, are receiving care in Contra Costa due to a lack of space at facilities closer to the base that can properly isolate them to minimize the risk of spreading the virus. While the two patients tested positive for COVID-19, they have yet to show any symptoms of the virus, such as fever and difficulty breathing.
The hospitals and public health officials are working closely with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Heath (CDPH) to ensure the patients receive excellent care and that all procedures are followed to protect the community from COVID-19.
“Our county’s healthcare system is prepared to handle COVID-19,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer. “We have been working with our hospital partners to follow safety protocols to keep patients and healthcare workers safe and minimize the risk of the virus spreading in Contra Costa,” said Dr. Chris Farnitano, Contra Costa County Health Officer.
The patients did not become infected in Contra Costa County. CCHS will not release further details about the patients to protect their medical privacy.
The best way to reduce your risk of becoming infected with a respiratory virus, such as COVID-19, is to practice good hygiene:
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds
• Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water is not available
• People who are sick should always cover their coughs and sneezes using a tissue or the crook of their elbow; wash your hands after using a tissue to wipe your nose or mouth
• People who are sick should stay home from work or school until they are well
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with your unwashed hands
Contra Costa residents should contact their healthcare providers if they have symptoms and had close contact with someone with symptoms who traveled in the last 14 days from China.
All travelers to the U.S. from China since Feb. 2 have been asked to self-quarantine under the guidance of their local public health department for 14 days.
Visit cchealth.org/coronavirus to learn more about COVID-19.
86 comments
wow always wondered how a country could allow a pandemic
guess we know now
the amount of ignorance portrayed
by allowing anyone in with or having been anywhere with contact is beyond me
Are you thanking your president for getting these brave patriotic Americans out of foreign confinement and back into the loving arms of their country?
Shows you how stupid our govt really is. Yea let’s bring plane loads of exposed people back to the USA. I still can’t believe they did that.
Lying Chinese officials let this spread when they could of locked it down right.
Let’s just bring over everyone from Wuhan while they are making these brilliant decisions.
We have open boarders, what can one expect?
There is a resurgence of many diseases that were once eradicated in our country, but now we must do our best to avoid.
Thank you politicans…. for nothing.
Most of the disease resurgence is do to anti-vaxxers… but then you knew that.
Actually the diseases we are now seeing include tuberculosis, typhus, shigella, and Hep A. No vaccines for these. And in the cases if measles most if the people were vaccinated. My daughter was vaccinated and still got Chicken Pox.
Here it comes! Everything I’ve read from reliable sources has indicated that the Coronavirus will not be contained. That window of opportunity has expired. Viruses that kill quickly are easier to contain and isolate because people don’t travel and spread the virus, they are too sick. This virus doesn’t kill quickly and many people have minor or no symptoms at all and so here it comes. Here is a very good link to learn anything you want to know about the Coronavirus:
https://www.youtube.com/user/MEDCRAMvideos/videos
What hospital?? No mention?
It appears the Corona Virus is highly contagious. And in my opinion, health officials seem like they can get ahead of the virus. But it looks like the virus is winning. The confidence of health officials is borderline arrogant. Corona V. Is now an epidemic . Shame on them for thinking they can contain this so easily.
Patients will be placed into a “negative pressure” isolation area to prevent transmission and limit spread of the virus while in quarantine.
Travis was never designated as a treatment center for individuals rescued from the Disaster Princess cruise ship. No way would the military risk infecting DGMC. They are being sent out to county hospitals with facilities that can treat airborne, infectious diseases.
Yes, this disease IS airborne, and aerosolized.
Once released from Travis, quarantined passengers are NOT permitted to return to base. The problem is, there are NO MORE local hospitals to treat the infected. So they are being treated wherever there is an available hospital.
The city of Costa Mesa on Friday objected to moving the infected to an anandoned adult developmental facility. Not built to handle a cholera.
If It’s not at John Muir in Walnut Creek, it may be soon. They have negative pressure isolation rooms.
https://ratcliffarch.com/projects/john-muir-health-emergency-department-expansion/
Thank you Chris, For this information.
There’s one at the hospital I work at in Antioch.
Which Hospital(s)?
If they released that info, people would cancel scheduled exams, procedures, and patients would demand to be moved, which would not be good for the hospital’s bottom line. As Mel Brooks said in Blazing Saddles, “Gentlemen, we have to protect out cockamamie jobs!”
Pretty sure it’s John Muir in Concord. Heard from an employee that they have 2 cases coming in.
That must be so scary for the staff.
More Incompetence! At least Costa Mesa had the GONADS to block them and protect its citizens. Contra costa county……not so much.
Yep, it’s going to spread, great job
It’s inevitable in any case. Don’t worry though. It won’t help.
Mind blown…
Remember when they used to confine viruses when discovered to prevent the spread of disease?
Mistakes will be made and already have.
Amen to that! @ Random Task
I’m expecting to see over 100 replies to this topic…..or you people have your heads in the sand.
How is it that you come out in droves to condemn “AntI Vaxxers”, and then you’re going to be silent when government puts your lives at risk????
So many people saying it’s nothing to worry about….
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Because AntiVaxers are idiots and without vaccines we’d be hit constantly with plagues. The Black Death would never have happened if modern medicine was available.
Also, I trust medical professionals over youtube doctors any day. These people are being transported to a facility that can handle infectious diseases. A breakout here will not happen from these individuals it will be from someone that has been travelling internationally.
Here’s the thing about the coronavirus, it is very infectious but so far about 2% to 4% of patients have died. This may be higher as China isn’t reliable, we can only blame the white house for the poor response and lack of funding and leadership (dismantling the global health security team on the National Security Council is coming back to haunt us). Regardless, most people will be okay, but because of how infectious it is the sheer amount will result sadly in deaths.
There was a discussion where an ER doctor chimed in and said that the worst thing people can do is flock to the ER if they are infected. ER should only be an option if you are having difficulty breathing and you should call ahead. You, sitting in ER, is just going to infect more people.. According to the ER doctor and a few other doctors that chimed in the best thing to do is to stay at home and isolate yourself there.
First we bring this problem to our country then we bring this problem to our state! Then we bring the problem to our community! and now to a hospital near you!!!
Why not a trailer in the middle of the desert?
They are acting as if they thoroughly understand this virus.
They won’t release hospital name to keep the rest of the people calm. No need for mass panic or sick people trying to leave hospitals
Nothing like half a story.
WHICH HOSPITALS???
This is how they treat the exposed in China, ‘this family removed from their own home!!
https://youtu.be/rKek0Y30Ctw
I sure am glad they flew them right from China into our area! Such a smart, well thought out thing to do.
You are just an uninformed and ignorant as other posters.
First you need to actually read the above article and other sources because you are wrong. LEARN TO READ!
Second, the patients that came into Travis are US CITIZENS who were traveling in JAPAN (not CHINA) on a cruise ship and were evacuated back to the US by the State Dept.
Why on earth was the decision made to transport coronavirus patients from Solano county at Travis Airforce Base, to Contra Costa County which currently has no cases recorded to date? Im assuming that this lame decision will attribute to spreading this virus rather than attempting to constrain it. Spreading the wealth???? Ridiculous
We want Names of the Epic Failures who made these decisions.
My money is that they are at the County Hospital in Martinez, since Martinez always gets reamed.
They’ll blame it on the Refinery before they acknowledge an outbreak.
The patients need to be in a negative pressure room in order to prevent the contaminated air from getting out of the room. Most hospitals only have a few of these rooms. So if the hospitals in Solano county are full already they have to go somewhere else. They can’t be kept at Travis because they don’t have negative pressure rooms.
The passengers were flown to the US against the orders from President Trump. The CDC ignored the government’s directive.
Uh no the other way aorund; CDC said DO NOT transport them and Dump transported them anyway.
Nancy, As an authority on the matter, post the source of your information. Back up your claim.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/21/politics/trump-coronavirus-cruise-ship/index.html
Here’s a link. A quick google search states he was told infected patients would be left behind and was not informed by the state department who did whatever they wanted.
Sorry Trump haters, but you can’t blame him for everything.
What’s in China should stay in China.
Probably sent to John Muir so Doctors can carry the virus for your next visit.
Doubt Kaiser would be equipped.
They will all say they have to raise our premiuns, medical costs,, due to this stupidity.
No Las Vegas. What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.
Kaiser is very well equipped to handle it, as is John Muir. There is this thing called PPE that hospital staff use to prevent stuff from being transferred from one patient to another. Not to mention the patients are placed in negative pressure rooms to prevent it from being spread outside the room the patient is in. The only stupidity is choosing to remain uninformed about matters like this and instead spreading needless and baseless blah blah like saying premiums will be raised.
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Gov. Gavin Newsom is rumored to be drafting up an executive order to force all retail establishments to be plague compliant, where corona virus carriers will feel safe to shop and do business without the stigma of causing suffocating death to those around them. An affirmative action program is in the works also.
Actually he is most concerned with keeping the virus away from the illegals. They are the future you know……….
Note to self, avoid Kaiser for the next few months.
Not Kaiser. Check my reply to someone above. There’s one hospital in Concord, and that’s the one.
Thanks Dodger Dog, so John Muir in Concord (Cardiac), or John Muir in Walnut Creek (ER)?
@Nutcreek Frontier
There’s only one hospital in Concord. John Muir (unless you’re a long-time resident and still call it Mt. Diablo) in Concord.
Did you know that according to the CDC, influenza has killed 16,000 people this year? https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm
There is really no reason to be so concerned about the Coronavirus, if you have a healthy immune system.
You’re joking.
Since when did you see Medical professionals dressed in Full hazmat gear for the Flu???
High likelihood that this is a weaponized virus.
There are to many humans in this world anyways… humans don’t seem to care to much about our animals/wildlife/planet so hey maybe it’s our turn now and we can thank China as they believe wildlife cures them and protects them. But maybe now, animals are fighting back in an odd kind of way.
I heard the same thing, addlepate. Probiotics (with FOS, the “pearl” variety supposedly survives stomach acids, thus making the journey to the intestines where it will do some good)… Kim chi and other fermented foods. Don’t forget roughage. Roughage feeds he good bacteria.
I heard the people dying from it are immune comprimised. duh.
Walnut Creek john Muir has one and so does Walnut Creek Kaiser, very scary, we were informed of this today also at the hospital!
That makes sense, lets spread it around…
According to an email sent out by a Martinez Elementary school to families with children attending that school, it said that they were both taken to the County Hospital in Martinez early this morning.
With so much different information going around I feel that it is more likely creating a bigger panic vs officials just letting the public know what city they were taken to. I feel like the public has a right to know given the circumstances.
This crap of thinking this country is the greatest everybody is welcome needs to stop. If not it will follow California right down the s–t hole.
With a long latency period before an infected person shows symptoms, and easily transmitted via airborne modes, Corona Virus is one of those Disease X organisms the CDC has been warning about. If it really breaks out into the open (pandemic), you can expect our health care system to be overwhelmed. If 4% of patients need hospitalization and 2% ‘expire’, you can forget routine medical procedures for awhile.
International travel, cruises, etc…will be disrupted. The ‘Markets’ are still trying to figure out the winners/losers, and how much equities are overpriced under the circumstances.
It looks like they are spreading these people around to avoid one hospital having to eat all the costs. I wonder if the Feds are picking up the tab or whether patients individual insurance is paying. These people were on a cruise ship so I’m sure they can afford to pay.
This article left out which hospitals, but glad for the reporting.
However, the spread of disinformation by some commenters is almost as dangerous as the virus.
This is not the time for conspiracy-riddled, fear-mongering twaddle.
Please stop spreading partisan disinformation, people.
California should have kept it’s big mouth shut. If I had to bring infected people to the states, I would bring them to the states that were trouble makers and had the least amount of American citizens. California asked for it.
Seems to me it makes more sense to contain the virus and treat those affected where it occurs rather than bringing them here. Are the treatment facilities so poor in Chiba that healthcare professionals refuse to work there to treat and contain the virus? Treat and contain on site seems to be the reasonable approach to me, but what do I know?
I totally agree!
If there was a life threatening virus that started here, would we send the sick people to China?
Does not make sense what they are doing. Why does the U.S have to foot the bill for all and put everyone at risk? ANSWERS PLEASE.
You want answers… here are two very important ones…
The patients are US CITIZENS, not Chinese. You needed to have a US PASSPORT in order to be cleared to board the plane back to US soil. Also, the patients came from JAPAN, not China.
So are you implying that we should not care for our own citizens when they are in crisis while traveling overseas??
Should the State Dept just have abandoned US citizens?
Please be educated, not ignorant!!
No insults please…just facts.
Seems like they’d send the trained healthcare workers (the experts) there to treat these patients on site, not spread them out all over the planet.
Hospital CCRMC most likely….
San Francisco just issued a Local State of Emergency in preparation for what’s coming.
What is with peoples fascination with going to China a PRISON Nation??? I agree, keep them over there until they are not contagious.
China is a country best viewed over the internet.
I hear they are gun owners and their right to bear arms shall not be infringed upon. So they had to be let back into our great country so they can fondle their guns and feel safe. Your right to live out your life with good health be dammed.
Don’t believe everything you hear, or anything you say.
The spread of disinformation by some commenters, is almost as dangerous as the virus. This is not the time for conspiracy-riddled fear-mongering, people. Please stop spreading disinformation.
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Well said DVD STUDENT. Refreshing to read your comments compared to a lot of the less informed comments. Sadly, the hate, mean comments, and racist remarks may be the “fabric of America” .
God Bless America.
Your handle should actually be ‘An unEducated DVC Student’.
Sorry, but when my life is endangered, I will not be falling for your ‘racism’ drivel. There’s a whole bunch THAT WE DO NOT KNOW about this enhanced virus……and it’s no time to trust your life to the Liars at Mainstream media.
So stuck your head in the sand and don’t forget to hold on to your guns. Well said Candy.
‘we’re from the government and here to help’ …
Let’s hope he can read the teleprompter tonight.
I don’t think the person who is currently proposing huge cuts to the CDC budget (you know, the government agency that deals with disease control) has any credibility with most of us. I do agree that China needs to ban the exploitation of wildlife as food. Risky for human health and just plain cruel to the animals.
One of many reasons why I have a dram of whiskey per night…
I’m sure we’ll be fine. If we can’t count on a guy who looked directly at a solar eclipse twice, who can we count on? 😎
I’m OK with bringing our citizens back but if they have a suspected contagious virus the government should not be dispersing them all over the country. They should be sent in one facility in the middle of nowhere to contain/quarantine this in case. Lovelace what are you talking about what was that drivel? Housing people that can spread a deadly virus in a populated area is definitely not smart
I’m not worried Trump said it would be gone by April.
He told the crowd that “in theory” once the weather warms up Coronavirus, which he referred to as “the virus,” will “miraculously” go away. Trump did not offer any scientific explanation to back up his claim.
They are seeing fewer cases now in China. They are also treating it with high doses of vitamin C. Hopefully, it will be down to zero soon. I remember when I got Shingles, (lack of B12) The first doc misdiagnosed me as a faker. I diagnosed myself (Thank you Google) Then, John Muir made me come thru be a special Infectious Disease door on the side. So call ahead if you need to go to the doc.
@Barbie Girl…When you call ahead make sure you tell them that “Dr. Google” diagnosed you, they’ll be on it toot sweet.
1) To all of those freaking out about which hospitals might be treating/ observing the victims, just do a quick search on the web and you’ll get some answers. There’s an article in the SF Chronicle about one of the victims from Travis AFB that was transferred to UCSF. He’s been very vocal about his experience and has been telling his story about this experience. Just imagine someone knocking on your door in a hazmat suit telling you they’re here to take you way. As for the other person that hasn’t made themselves public, I’m aware of which hospital they are at and I am confident we are being protected. My real concern is about the UC Davis case. In this case they have yet to determine how she may have contracted it. Since her first level of communal contact has apparently been domestic the assumption would be that there is another person walking amongst us as a host going undiagnosed. That’s a bigger concern for us all.
2). To those who are questioning why these people have been transported back to the states from their travels abroad, you clearly haven’t traveled abroad and may not be aware that it is YOUR responsibility as a US citizen to tell the State Department your travel itinerary ( simple form easily filled out online). In the event that you don’t arrive/depart from your scheduled itinerary it’s their job to track you down. They also will alert you (while you’re traveling) if there is a public health concern and how you should proceed. If there is a riot or a protest or a war they will also inform you where you can go for safety until they can extract you and bring you home. Just part of your rights as a US Citzen.
3). While there are plenty of people just doing what they always do on the internet ( quoting death tolls of the flu, going hysterical, trolling, sarcastically berating each others political views) I believe it is of a larger concern over the typical influenza virus. For starters, while the “flu” virus is a constantly evolving and morphing living virus that travels the world every day, there are known treatments for people who suspect they are infected. Those who are of the highest risk are typically the ones with an already weekend/ suppressed immune system. Case in point, myself. I take medicine that suppresses my immune system. Because of this I can’t take preventive vaccinations. So the case in UC Davis has my attention.
Who was the mystery host? Did they know that they came from an area of concern? Did they ignorantly fly while sick? Did they inform the State Department of their travels? Can they be tracked down to find their communal exposure level?
We can’t blame the government for trying to keep us safe if we don’t play by the rules ourselves.
Good post. Here’s an excerpt on an intercepted document on the subject. You didn’t get this from me if anyone asks:
Dear UC Davis Community:
As you may be aware, a confirmed case of COVID-19 has been documented in a Solano County resident who is being treated at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. This case is being investigated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as possibly the first patient with no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual. Because of the precautions we have had in place since this patient’s arrival, we believe there has been minimal potential for exposure at the medical center.
To date, no one in Yolo County or on the UC Davis main campus has tested positive for COVID-19. We do want you to know, however, that out of an abundance of caution, three members of the campus community who had been living in Kearney Hall are currently in isolation. The CDC is testing one of them for COVID-19, and this person is not on campus. The other two individuals are asymptomatic, meaning they are not showing any symptoms of illness, so, following CDC guidance, they have not been tested.
So, instead of effectively dealing with this outbreak, their goal is to ‘control the information’. What could go wrong…..
In addition to running the government’s response to the coronavirus outbreak, Mike Pence now controls the government’s messaging about the disease. The New York Times reports that the White House has directed health officials and scientists to coordinate all public appearances and statements with the vice president before their release.
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