A Hawaii man will be placed in mandatory quarantine after returning from Hubei Province in China where a coronavirus outbreak is ongoing, state health officials announced Monday.
The man arrived at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport on Monday, Feb. 10 and will be transferred to the Pearl Harbor military base. He has not shown any symptoms, but his health will be monitored for the next two weeks, as federal guidelines dictate.
“He is healthy. He is well,” said State Epidemiologist Sarah Park. “We’re complying at this point with the mandatory quarantine for people who have traveled to Hubei Province within the past 14 days.”
State Epidemiologist Sarah Park said of the Hawaii man in mandatory quarantine, “He is healthy. He is well.” Eleni Gill/Civil Beat/2020
“Lab tests will give us the ability to determine if this person has been exposed to the virus,” added State Health Director Bruce Anderson.
Meanwhile, 26 others are under precautionary self-quarantine throughout the state after traveling elsewhere throughout China.
The coronavirus has an incubation period that means symptoms may not show for as many as 14 days.
Only those who have traveled directly to Wuhan where the virus originated are subject to mandatory quarantine. The Hawaii man was traveling alone.
No cases of the coronavirus have been confirmed in Hawaii. Should there be a confirmed case, patients would be sent to a hospital to be treated.
Since Jan. 29 the U.S. State Department has evacuated about 850 people, most of them U.S. citizens.
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