A novel (new) coronavirus was recently detected in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China and is causing an outbreak of respiratory disease. On February 11, 2020, the World Health Organization named the disease coronavirus disease 2019 (abbreviated “COVID‑19”).
Chinese health officials have reported tens of thousands of cases of COVID‑19 in China, with the virus reportedly spreading from person-to-person in parts of that country. COVID‑19 illnesses, most of them associated with travel from Wuhan, also are being reported in a growing number of international locations, including the United States. Some person-to-person spread of this virus outside China has been detected. The United States reported the first confirmed instance of person-to-person spread with this virus on January 30, 2020.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed multiple cases of novel coronavirus 2019 in people under federal quarantine at JBSA-Lackland in San Antonio. The first was a traveler who returned on a U.S. State Department-chartered flight from Wuhan City, China. The others returned on a State Department flight for passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama, Japan. The individuals will remain isolated at medical facilities until they test negative for the virus and are no longer at risk of spreading it. The CDC has the latest information on the number of people under quarantine who are infected and is updating its national numbers each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
There are no other cases in Texas, and these cases do not change the risk of infection for people in San Antonio or other parts of Texas, because the patients have been under federal quarantine since their return and have not interacted with the public in Texas communities. The risk for all Texans remains low.
The Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) is working closely with CDC in monitoring the developing outbreak. See the CDC website for the latest developments on COVID‑19, including current case counts: CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (CDC)