Knowing fact from fiction as Northern California base becomes coronavirus quarantine site

Fairfield’s Travis Air Force Base was named Saturday as the first quarantine site in Northern California for international travelers who may have come in contact with a new coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, according to a statement posted on the base’s Facebook page.

Travis, located just 32 miles southwest of Sacramento, is one of four military installations in the United States setting aside housing for the travelers at the request of U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who is making room for a combined 1,000 travelers to assist the federal Department of Health and Human Services. They are expected to be quarantined for 14 days because public health officials believe it can take that long before symptoms of the virus manifest.

This means that California will have three sites housing people who potentially have had exposure to the outbreak. March Air Reserve Base in Riverside already is housing U.S. government employees evacuated out of Wuhan, and could be joined by Travis as well as Marine Corps Air Station, Miramar, near San Diego.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have both declared a public health emergency because the respiratory illness is spreading so quickly.

“At this time, Travis Air Force Base will only provide housing support, while HHS will be responsible for all care, transportation, and security of the evacuees,” the release said. “Travis airmen and personnel will not be directly in contact with the evacuees and evacuees will not have access to any base location other than their assigned housing.”

The sudden and unexpected appearance of the coronavirus has sparked concern and anxiety across the United States, including in Sacramento where some retailers have a shortage of face masks because residents view them as critical to protecting themselves.

Anxiety about coronavirus

Psychologists say the challenge with a disease outbreak like this one is that it’s hard to predict what’s going to happen, people don’t have all the facts, and some important facts will remain unknown for a while.

“When you’re dealing with a state of information where there’s a lot of uncertainty, it’s natural to feel a little bit anxious about that,” said licensed clinical psychologist Lynn Bufka, an executive with the American Psychological Association. “We don’t know what it means, and we feel a little more anxious. ... We don’t know what’s going to happen or how it’s going to unfold.“

The challenge for us as humans is that information isn’t always perfect, Bufka said.

“It’s not always going to be reliable, and we need to develop some strategies for obtaining good sources of information and what’s trustworthy or not,” she said. “In the current age of information ... there are so many more sources of information.”

Bufka recommended that people check out their sources of information and figure out reputable sources they can trust them. Misinformation has abounded about the new coronavirus, some of it coming from hoax reports on social media and conspiracy theories on websites. Bufka suggests checking more than one source. If multiple sources are reporting the same information, she said, that information is likely the most accurate.

Anxiety is not a bad emotion, Bufka said, because those feels can motivate people to face up to situations they are facing and prepare to overcome them. Bufka suggests asking yourself: Do you have accurate information? What can you do to mitigate your risk? And, have you done what’s necessary?

Risk of infection is small

Psychologist Robin Gurwitch, professor at Duke University Medical Center, said it’s also good to understand the likelihood that you will be exposed to the new coronavirus. If you haven’t been in or near an airport, that possibility is quite low, she said. Indeed, public health officials have stressed that the risk of coronavirus spilling over into the U.S. population is small.

Of the 14,290 cases of new coronavirus reported to public health officials Saturday afternoon, 98 percent were in China. Of the people who had died from it, only 10 of the 304 were outside the province of Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak. Many of those who died had underlying illnesses that contributed to their demises. There have been eight cases in the United States, seven of them travelers returning from China and one the spouse of a Chicago-bound traveler.

Gurwitch said that, as stressful as this can be for adults, it can be even more so for children. She suggested that parents check in with their kids by asking them what they’ve heard about this new infection.

“It’s a really good time to say, ‘This has been on the news, and you may have heard me talking about this. Maybe you’ve had friends talk about it. Tell me what you know. Tell me what you’ve heard about this,’” she said. “Sometimes, children and teenagers will fill in blanks with complete misinformation. Talking about it gives parents an opportunity to really calm some of the worry and anxiety by providing appropriate information and letting them know that part of their job as the caregiver is to make sure that you stay healthy and well as much as I can, and that if there are any problems, to make sure we get you to a doctor.”

Symptoms of coronavirus

The new coronavirus causes fever, coughing and shortness of breath, and the symptoms can cause severe respiratory problems and death. About two out of 100 people who have gotten the disease have died. That mortality rate is significantly lower than rates of death for other coronaviruses such as MERS which has killed 30 to 40 out of 100 and SARS which has killed about nine of every 100 people infected.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have led the global effort to identify zoonotic diseases like these that can leap from animals to people. The source of this new coronavirus, SARS, and MERS is linked to a virus in bats. UCD scientists say it is likely that the new coronavirus had sickened a limited number of people for years before the outbreak linked to a market in Wuhan, China, occurred.

To cope with anxiety, Bufka suggested that people come up with strategies they feel will reduce their chances of getting ill and implement them. If it feels overwhelming, she said, check in with friends to see if you’re being realistic. Sometimes, though, she said, friends can actually contribute to anxiety, so be sure you choose carefully.

There are also some foundational steps you can take to maintain your emotional stability: Get regular sleep, adequate amounts of physical activity, decent nutrition, social support, Bufka said. And, Gurwitch stressed taking the typical precautions to ward off seasonal illness: Wash your hands regularly with soap and water. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands. Stay home when you’re sick, and disinfect surfaces and equipment you may share with others.

Two-week quarantine

In declaring the emergency on Wednesday, CDC officials said that Americans who were in Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province would be quarantined for 14 days while travelers from elsewhere in China would be screened at ports of entry, including San Francisco International Airport. Also part of the declaration, the government temporarily restricted foreign nationals from entering the United States if they have been to China.

Dr. Stuart Cohen, UC Davis Health’s director of epidemiology and infection control, said it is not necessary for the general public to wear surgical masks in Sacramento. So far, the risk of infection in Northern California is small because there is only one confirmed case, after a man was identified as having the illness in Santa Clara County on Friday.

While California is more vulnerable than some other places in the United States because of the large number of people in the state traveling back and forth to China, officials have cautioned against undue fears of contracting the illness.

Pentagon officials said that the housing at the bases would be in place through the end of February. Up to 250 people will be housed each at Travis and Miramar. The other selected installations are the Army’s Fort Carson, Colorado, 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute; and Lackland Air Force Base, near San Antonio, Texas.