California hotels are being used for coronavirus quarantines, Gavin Newsom announces

Coronavirus patients who are not sick enough to need hospital care but could be contagious are being quarantined in hotels in San Mateo and Monterey counties, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday.

The hotels are “100 percent secure, 100 percent segregated from the general public,” Newsom said during a news conference at the Capitol.

Those quarantined in the hotels are among the 26 people who tested positive for the coronavirus aboard the Grand Princess cruise ship docked at the Port of Oakland. Once they were evacuated from the ship, they were all taken to hospitals, where some were determined to be well enough to be released.

Newsom said officials were right to be cautious and send those people to hospitals in case they needed emergency care. But once doctors determined they were well enough to leave, they needed to be removed to free up space for much sicker people.

The coronavirus spreading across the globe causes the disease known as COVID-19, which can include a fever, runny nose, cough and breathing trouble. Most people who catch the virus develop only mild symptoms. Some, usually those who are elderly or have other medical complications, develop more severe symptoms like pneumonia, which can be fatal.

Other passengers from the cruise ship are being quarantined at military bases in California and other states, or are being sent back to their home countries if they are not Americans. The crew is being held aboard the ship while the U.S. and foreign governments negotiate over whether to fly foreign crewmembers back to their home countries, Newsom said.

State officials had secured hotel rooms in Monterey County, Burlingame and San Carlos in anticipation of the cruise ship with infected passengers docking in California, Newsom said.

The hotels are completely empty of other guests, Newsom said. Workers and medical personnel working at the sites have protective gear to prevent them from catching the virus.

“These are perhaps some of the most safe sites in the community because of these additional protocols,” Newsom said. “These are not people that are symptomatic, that need to be in the hospital. These are people we are monitoring through the incubation process.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2020 at 4:30 PM with the headline "California hotels are being used for coronavirus quarantines, Gavin Newsom announces."