UPDATE: 4 p.m., Feb. 13, 2020:
While there are just two patients at UC San Diego Medical Center who’ve tested positive for COVID-19, the hospital is evaluating another patient with symptoms of the coronavirus and is expecting more to come, an official said Thursday.
The two patients who’ve contracted the virus are in fair and good condition, respectively, and the third, which the hospital calls a “patient under investigation” (or PUI), is doing excellent, said Dr. Randy Taplitz, UC San Diego Health clinical director of infectious diseases.
The three patients were among more than 200 U.S. citizens who were placed in a federally mandated quarantine at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar last week because they had been traveling in Wuhan, China, where the novel coronavirus first appeared late last year.
RELATED: Second Case Of New Coronavirus Confirmed In San Diego
"Our anticipation is our PUIs will come from [Miramar],” she said. “And if experience has taught us anything, it's that we should anticipate more individuals who will be PUIs during this quarantine time."
At Rady Children's Hospital, two children who were under quarantine at MCAS Miramar have been admitted for observation because they were showing symptoms of the disease, hospital spokesman Carlos Delgado told KPBS. This includes 3-year-old Annabel Wucisnki, who was released last Friday after testing negative for the virus. She's since developed additional symptoms and was readmitted.
Her father, Frank, is accompanying her at the hospital. He is not showing any symptoms.
Earlier this week, an error in the testing process by the CDC led to the mistaken release of one of the patients infected with the coronavirus from the hospital back to a quarantine facility at MCAS Miramar. CDC officials discovered the mistake and that patient was returned to the hospital.
RELATED: US Announces 15th Coronavirus Case, This One In Texas
“At this time there is no indication of person-to-person spread of this virus at the quarantine facility, but CDC will carry out a thorough contact investigation as part of its current response strategy to detect and contain any cases of infection with this virus,” CDC on-site team lead Dr. Chris Braden said in a statement.
“We want to reassure our patients, their loved ones and the community at large that there is no exposure risk at any UC San Diego Health hospitals or clinics,” UCSD Health said in a statement.
There are 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States.
