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SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Leaders in San Antonio are urging the federal government for additional patient testing for cruise ship evacuees after one was released from quarantine in the city despite testing positive for the new coronavirus.
The woman tested positive for the illness last month after she was evacuated from Wuhan, China, but was released from quarantine Saturday following two negative tests, officials said. After the woman's release, health officials learned that a third lab test came back “weakly positive.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Sunday that the woman was asymptomatic at the time of her release and met all criteria for release, but she was returned to quarantine after the new positive test was discovered.
Meanwhile, more than 120 passengers from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who had been in quarantine in San Antonio were scheduled for release Monday, Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. The mayor and other officials in San Antonio called for a third lab test for the passengers before they are released.
The woman who tested positive was out of quarantine for about 12 hours and went to a hotel and a shopping mall, said Dr. Anita Kurian, assistant director of San Antonio Metropolitan Health Department.
Kurian said officials consider the exposure risk for people at the mall and hotel to be low, noting that the woman spent much of her time sitting alone at the mall's food court. Two people who encountered her at the hospital are at a medium risk, she said.
Nirenberg said Monday that it was “totally unacceptable” that the woman was released from quarantine.
“We simply cannot have a screw-up like this from our federal partners,” he said.
The CDC said Sunday night that it was dealing with "an unfolding situation with many unknowns.
“CDC is making decisions on a case-by-case basis using the best available science at the time,” the agency said in a statement. “CDC’s priority is to protect both patients and communities.”
