San Antonio mayor declares public health emergency, bans coronavirus evacuees

After an evacuee from Wuhan, China, tested positive for coronavirus after being released from quarantine in San Antonio, Texas, the mayor has declared a public health emergency.

San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg declared a local state of disaster and public health emergency on Monday afternoon, the Houston Chronicle reported.

The state of emergency will last until March 9 and allows the city to quarantine residents and request resources from the governor, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Coronavirus evacuees who were quarantined on Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland are banned from traveling to or through San Antonio until further notice, KENS reported.

Evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship were set to be released on Monday when their mandatory two-week quarantine ended, but their release was pushed to Tuesday, the Texas Tribune reported.

Only people who have been without symptoms for all 14 days will be released, according to a news release from the city. More than 120 evacuees are expected to be transported in shifts to the San Antonio airport for their flights where they’ll be assisted through security.

Those who have requested rental cars to drive home will also be taken to the airport for transportation to be arranged, according to the release.

“The risk to the general public remains low,” assistant city manager Colleen Bridger said in the release. “I want to remind the community that these are individuals who showed no symptoms over the course of the 14-day quarantine. We owe it to our fellow Americans not to stigmatize them and allow them to go back to their homes and families.”

Passengers who were symptomatic or tested positive for COVID-19 during quarantine must remain in isolation until they have no symptoms and take two negative tests more than 24 hours apart, the city said in the release.

On Sunday, a woman who’d been evacuated from Wuhan was released from isolation in San Antonio before testing positive for coronavirus, McClatchy News previously reported.

She spent more than 12 hours in public where she checked into a hotel before spending two hours at North Star Mall, where she spent the majority of her time eating alone in the food court, the report said. The woman has since returned to isolation.

People she came in contact with at the hotel and mall are considered “low-risk” for contracting the virus, McClatchy reported.

This story was originally published March 2, 2020 at 3:07 PM.