Eyeless on Campus

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA--Wuhan Tent City in Los Angeles &-- LOGISTICS SNAFU

IMMEDIATEREL///@TACNET//.ATTN/CDR//@JC//URGENT/UNCLASSIFIED

"....even more Americans may become subject to summary removal from their posts..."

(DEN@UNR)-- Without warning or notification to the Golden State citizens, aircraft swooped out of the sky and landed at Travis AFB by Davis. Down south, Riverside's Press Enterprise reports from the city desk;
"The tents were set up to meet a request from federal officials to provide enough housing at the facility for at least 250 more people in individual rooms in case a plane carrying passengers who need to be medically screened is temporarily diverted to March ARB" (Riverside PE)
Currently, there doesn't appear to be any validated information as to the actual whereabouts of the detainees, no demographics, and other health related issues. It appears the "federal officials" have complete jurisdiction as to where to dump the weary Wuhan immigrants without regard to how Californians might feel about it.

Coronavirus: 350 evacuees from Wuhan, China arrive at Travis Air Force Base
Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield announced two State Department chartered evacuation flights from Wuhan, China arrived Wednesday carrying some 350 passengers from the country stricken by the deadly novel coronavirus. One of the aircraft will refuel at Travis and continue on to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego, the base reported on Facebook.

.. There has been little information prior to their arrival as to where the evacuees would be quarantined. Patricia Kime of Military Times reports that 195 evacuees are currently being isolated at March AFB in Riverside;
"A child among the 195 Americans quarantined at March Air Reserve Base in California has been hospitalized after developing a fever, but whether the youngster has the new coronavirus has yet to be determined. Riverside County Department of Health officials said Tuesday that the child and a parent were taken to Riverside University Health System-Medical Center to be tested for the virus, which has infected more than 24,000 people in 25 countries and killed 492, mostly in China." (MilTimes)

   The number of confirmed casualties has already increased worldwide and there has been no transparency on the number of those quarantined at the airbase other than a sick baby.
   At least one detainee attempted to make a break for it following touchdown at March ARB, as reported by Sandra Emerson at the Press-Enterprise;
   "Riverside County Health Officer Dr. Cameron Kaiser issued the order requiring the passenger to stay at the base for the entire incubation period, up to 14 days, or until otherwise cleared, officials said in a news release Thursday, Jan. 30. " (Riverside PE)
   The article goes on to report that the flight was redirected away from Ontario airport and landed directly at the airbase. (Daily Bulletin) Speculation is rampant as to why the flight changed at the last minute and doesn't explain yet another flight that landed at Travis AFB. It would seem rather a misjudgement in logistics to have planes loaded with suspect coronavirus cases unload in the middle of a civilian airport. The Mercury News reports of the other flights out of the epidemic ground zero of Hubei province;
   ..."one of two planes carrying some 350 passengers out of China that landed at Travis early Wednesday. The other plane refueled and continued on to Miramar Marine Corps Air Station in San Diego County, the base reported. Two other chartered planes from China are expected to arrive by Thursday at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and Eppley Airfield in Omaha, Nebraska," (SJ Mercury)
The article reports that Travis will quarantine the incoming passengers at the Westwind Inn on base. For the Lackland AFB suspected cases, Joe Galli reports for WOAI, San Antonio;

   "According to the Department of Defense, there is enough lodging for 1,000 passengers being evacuated from China to the U.S. in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
At least one plane with quarantined Americans has left China for Lackland AFB and is expected to land Thursday." (WOAI)
   The billeting at Lackland appears more of an unused barracks compared to the upscale treatment at the Travis Westwind, but notably superior to the tent city at March ARB in Riverside.
   Gathered from all of the above, the plan to house the incoming suspected coronavirus cases does not appear to be organized at all with a tent city, attempted escape, makeshift lodging and converted barracks for accommodations. This does not take into account yet another outbreak of the epidemic in some other far corner of the globe where even more Americans may become subject to summary removal from their posts, whether in the State Department or perhaps missionaries or NGOs in a non-official role. To what degree US health officials are coordinating efforts with the State Department and even the Pentagon has yet to be determined as well.
   The one consistent event in the entire episode of the Wuhan catastrophe thus far is that aircraft appear to make their entry into the United States, through California.

(Note: corrections to this story in progress)

   (02/06/20/1900PST) "The hospitals and county health officials were pressing the CDC to offer test kits to identify the strain of virus without the need to send biological samples to the federal headquarters in Atlanta." (Fox5, SD)
They haven't provided them already? Did they send all the kits to Wuhan?

CDC Tests for 2019-nCoV
CDC has developed a new laboratory test kit for use in testing patient specimens for 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). The test kit is called the "Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 2019-Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) Real-Time Reverse Transcriptase (RT)-PCR Diagnostic Panel."

Extended Reading

Note in the first Miramar story below that, "The quarantine is part of a wide-ranging U.S. government response..." with no mention or credit given to the state of California.

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CDC prepare to receive quarantined China evacuees
Two facilities at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar have been readied to house hundreds of Americans returning from China due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Marine Corps said Tuesday. Dr. Christopher Braden, a deputy director with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control deployed to handle repatriation flights from China to California, said the arrival is imminent.

5th evacuee from MCAS Miramar hospitalized
A fifth person who arrived in Miramar on a flight from China's coronavirus zone was taken to the hospital Thursday.

An American woman evacuated from China over the Wuhan coronavirus filmed her journey and flight home with her 8-year-old daughter
An American woman evacuated from China as the deadly coronavirus continues to spread filmed her journey and evacuation flight home with her 8-year-old daughter. Priscilla Dickey filmed and photographed her journey to the US from the city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, which included being picked up by a cab driver in a hazmat suit, deserted city streets, and an airport filled with people wearing masks.

Sources
March AFB, https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2020/02/05/child-from-march-air-reserve-base-quarantine-hospitalized-with-fever/
Tent City, https://www.pe.com/2020/02/02/tents-set-up-as-a-coronavirus-precaution-at-march-air-reserve-base-in-riverside-county/
Escape, https://www.pe.com/2020/01/30/coronavirus-evacuee-quarantined-at-march-air-reserve-base-in-riverside-county/
Reroute, https://www.dailybulletin.com/2020/01/29/americans-evacuated-from-coronavirus-zone-in-china-en-route-to-riverside-county/
Travis AFB, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/02/05/coronavirus-350-evacuees-from-wuhan-china-arrive-at-travis-air-force-base/
Lackland AFB, https://news4sanantonio.com/news/local/sneak-peak-of-san-antonios-coronavirus-quarantine-housing
Test Kits, https://fox5sandiego.com/news/officials-assure-public-safety-as-4-patients-are-evaluated-for-coronavirus-at-local-hospitals/

IMMEDIATEREL///@TACNET//.ATTN/CDR//@JC//URGENT/UNCLASSIFIED

Sunday, February 2, 2020

CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA-- Invasive Species Strikes Golden State--ASIAN FLU, 1957

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"...the attitude over a major epidemic rapidly went from ambivalence to a 'definite probability.' .."

   (DEN@UNR)-- Still in its early stages of becoming a pandemic, the new strain of the pneumonia causing virus is getting a foothold out West as Hilda Flores reports for KCRA/3;
   "SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. --Health officials confirmed Sunday afternoon a second person has tested positive for coronavirus in Santa Clara County. Officials said the second case is not related to the first case reported earlier in the week. The second case is an adult female. Both people had recently traveled to Wuhan, China, officials said. The woman is a visitor to the U.S and arrived Jan. 23 to visit family. Officials said she has been home since she arrived, except for two times she went to seek care. She was never sick enough to be hospitalized, officials said."(KCRA)
   However the LA Times has just reported a third case, bringing the total to six statewide. (LA Times) A brief review of how California weathered the Asian flu in 1957 might give insight into what to expect from the new strain as it will inevitably pay a visit.

   First reported in The North Hollywood Valley Times, the cases were found in Santa Ana

"Orange County Health Officer E. L. Russell yesterday reported two cases of flu apparently similar to the Asian type were discovered in patients here.
   "The disease is said to be mild but with it carrying a threat of complications which has resulted in several deaths in the Far East.
   Russell said the two local influenza cases were being kept under close observation to head off a possible epidemic of the disease." (Valley Times)
On that same day, The Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported on its front page that the Asian flu was discovered on the cruise ship President Cleveland as it docked in San Francisco, Several passengers reported ill but the entire ship was quarantined. (Press Democrat)
   Caution to the wind didn't last long as a major spike in cases in Northern California placed the state on notice as what was in store.

   "Two Yuba-Sutter area girls were victims of the respiratory disease--suspected to be a form of 'Asian flu'--which hit over 100 Girls Staters at Davis this week.
   Betty Poulson, daughter of Mrs. George W, Pulispher, and Kathryn Summy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William A. Summt, are reported after recovering after a bout with the disease which struck more than one-fourth of the 391 High school teenagers attending the 1067 Girls' State session."

   From a handful of cases in southern Cal to over 100 in two weeks in Northern Cal is an indicator of just how invasive the species is.

   "The disease which struck the girls was described by Dr. Thomas Y. Cooper, staff physician, as similar to the flu that has swept Asia for months.
   The girls were conducting mock local and state governments on the campus of the University of California College of Agriculture, where Dr. Cooper is a staff physician."
   "There have been a few scattered reports of the flu in California and the girls came from all parts of the state." (Appeal Democrat)

   Even as newspapers of the era reported no serious concern for the virus in the United States, the same newspapers of the day were reporting 300 deaths related to it in India. The Long Beach Independent verified in July suspicion of the virus in the Girls State outbreak. (Independent) The virus has been recovered from blood samples of the girls infected. The Oakland Tribune reported on the same day that the Asian flu was responsible for outbreaks in boys' summer camps. (Tribune)
A day later, The San Rafael Independent broke the headline that recruits at Camp Pendleton had contracted flu of the "so-called Oriental type."

"The base medical officer said approximately 10 percent of the trainees in the infantry training regiment have contracted infections. The incidence in other units was described as about 3 per cent.
   Approximately 40,000 men are stationed on the base.
   The announcement said the increase was noted in the past ten days and all cases have been mild with recovery in two to four days." (SF Independent)
   What is apparent is not how mild the infection was but how rapidly it spread. To go from two isolated cases in Santa Ana to a battalion of recruits a month later indicates the lack of measures to contain it. Certainly that was the middle of the last century but considering the state of medicine then, there is reason to believe that it was adequate enough to at least be able to prepare for an epidemic, if unable to stop it.
   Again, the North Hollywood Valley Times reported that, according to San Diego health officer, Dr. J.B. Askew, more than 12,000 cases were reported in the county for the month of July, 1957; four of those died. In addition, Rear Adm. Robert M. Gillett, chief medical officer for the 11th Naval District reported 7,000 cases of military personnel affected by the Asian flu. (Valley Times)
By then, the attitude over a major epidemic rapidly went from ambivalence to a "definite probability." A month later, Surgeon General Leroy E. Burney announced the release of over 300 thousand centimeters of flu vaccine even though The Santa Maria Times reported it had not been notified of any shipment. (Times) It was the equivalent of 500 thousand flu shots.

   Several days later, in a D. Scheyer, Napa Journal headline that read "FEAR FLU EPIDEMIC, SERUM DUE," the Napa area county director of public health, Sterling S. Cook, announced the vaccine would be available ASAP.
   Dr. Cook explained that two types of serum were available; the first was monovalent and was specifically designed to counter the effects of the virus that swept across the Far East. The second was polyvalent, protection against a variety of strains.
   "He said that since early June 49 outbreaks of influenza-like illnesses have been reported in California, and of these, the outbreaks in San Diego, Fort Ord Army Base, Girls' State of Davis and Juvenile Court in San Mateo County have been identified as caused by influenza A of the Asian strain. An additional 14 outbreaks from widely separate areas in the State are currently under study." (Napa Journal)
   He cited one unverified report of 100 Camp Fire Girls and a counselor who got sick on July 20 but a strain wasn't obtained.

   This is only part of the story for California. Worldwide, the cases mounted to hundreds of thousands. If there are extreme quarantine conditions currently being put in place in Italy, then there is a reason for it citing the number of cases of Asian flu that struck the nation in 1957. No place was safe, Baghdad was hit, Pakistan suffered, many other places came under the influenza influence. California's epidemic, though mild, was enough to alert the state as to just how out of control, like its devastating wildfires, a seemingly non-toxic event could become catastrophic overnight.

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Wednesday, February 5, 2020

CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA--Wuhan Tent City in Los Angeles &-- LOGISTICS SNAFU

Coronavirus: 350 evacuees from Wuhan, China arrive at Travis Air Force Base

CDC Tests for 2019-nCoV

Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, CDC prepare to receive quarantined China evacuees

5th evacuee from MCAS Miramar hospitalized

An American woman evacuated from China over the Wuhan coronavirus filmed her journey and flight home with her 8-year-old daughter

Sunday, February 2, 2020

CORONAVIRUS, CALIFORNIA-- Invasive Species Strikes Golden State--ASIAN FLU, 1957

Fear of coronavirus fuels racist sentiment targeting Asians