Evacuees from the Grand Princess cruise ship are beginning to leave their two-week federal quarantine at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland.
A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told the Texas Tribune that 97 of the evacuated Americans had been cleared from quarantine Monday night and Tuesday morning. Another 18 are expected to leave later Tuesday, and more will leave over the next few days.
In February, federal officials began using the base as a quarantine site for waves of repatriated Americans with potential coronavirus infections. The people were evacuated from China and a pair of cruise ships. Twenty-one became symptomatic and tested positive, the Tribune reported, citing the Centers for Disease Control. Five of that total were from the Grand Princess.
The quarantine has been a flashpoint between the federal government and local officials, who maintain they were blindsided by the plans. Earlier this month, Mayor Ron Nirenberg blasted the White House’s handling of the situation in the Washington Post, citing a “lack of coordination at the highest levels.”
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This article appears in Mar 11-24, 2020.
