A total of six U.S. military bases will house Americans who have been evacuated from overseas and need to be quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus, according to Defense Department officials.
Camp Ashland in Nebraska is the latest installation to join the growing list of military facilities where the evacuees will be sheltered, the Defense Department announced on Wednesday. Up to 75 people will be quarantined there until Feb. 29.
Five other bases will house about 1,200 U.S. citizens who may have been exposed to the coronavirus: March Air Reserve Base, California; Fort Carson, Colorado; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Travis Air Force Base, California; and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California.
Earlier on Wednesday, two flights carrying roughly 350 evacuees from China landed at Travis Air Force Base, said Pentagon spokesman Army Lt. Col. Christian Mitchell.
One of the planes went on to take passengers to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.
Defense Department personnel are not expected to have direct contact with the quarantined Americans at any of the six bases, Mitchell said in a statement.
The Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for the care and security of the evacuees.
Nearly 500 people in China have reportedly died from the coronavirus and more than 24,000 people are believed to be infected with the disease, according to the New York Times.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is tracking 11 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the United States in the following states: Washington, California, Arizona, Illinois, and Massachusetts.