Jennifer Keller, an attorney for the city, said Friday evening that it is hard to reconcile how Fairview could be suitable for coronavirus quarantine when it had recently been deemed unfit for a homeless shelter without extensive improvements. military bases, including three in California. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in California to 15.Įvacuees from China, where the coronavirus originated, have been quarantined at U.S. But five people who were evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan and transported to Travis Air Force Base have tested positive, the U.S. There are 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in California, according to the state Department of Public Health. “It was not intended to house individuals infected with a highly contagious and deadly disease.” “FDC is a dilapidated, unstaffed and currently vacant facility,” Dempsey said in his declaration, noting that the center, at 2501 Harbor Blvd., is about 200 yards from residential neighborhoods. Newport Beach officials will review the Costa Mesa filings ASAP and find a way to help. I oppose any transfer of Coronavirus patients anywhere near neighborhoods. Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill said his city likely would file a brief supporting Costa Mesa. If any California site is chosen, we ensure that there will be onsite health services and extensive security provided by the federal government.” We don’t know whether people will be allowed to come and go.”įolmar said in her email that “it is imperative that federal, state and local government work together to identify an appropriate location. We don’t know what the treatment regime will be. ![]() “I think our biggest concern is that we’re being left out of the discussion in terms of what the plan is,” Foley said. They told him the buildings at Fairview would be cleaned up by Sunday in order to place 30 to 50 infected people, according to the declaration.ĭempsey notified the council, which held the emergency closed session. Thursday, according to Dempsey’s statement. Representatives of the California Office of Emergency Services, the Orange County Emergency Management Division and the county Health Care Agency called Dempsey at 5:45 p.m. “Housing these individuals in a single facility for the remainder of their quarantine will help ensure public health and safety.” “We are working closely with the federal government and local partners to assess possible locations only for fellow Californians who have tested positive for novel coronavirus, received necessary medical care and need an appropriate place to spend the remainder of their federal quarantine,” Folmar said. Kate Folmar of the California Health and Human Services Agency said in an email Friday night that “Fairview Developmental Center is under consideration as a potential location.” “And we felt that filing an injunction was the only way to halt the process because it seemed to be steamrolling forward.” “We need to continue to protect the security and safety of our community,” she said. Patients could be arriving as early as Sunday or Monday, Foley said. state-owned properties with these characteristics are few and in condition to handle this.” Jim Acosta, acting administrator of the California Office of Emergency Services’ Southern Region, told Dempsey on Thursday in an email included in the court documents that the Fairview Developmental Center “was selected because no military installations will be used. If they needed hospital care, they would be taken to an Orange County hospital.įairview Developmental Center is the “only site under consideration,” Mayor Katrina Foley said. The city sought to prevent transporting people infected with the COVID-19 virus to Costa Mesa “until an adequate site survey has been conducted, the designated site has been determined suitable for this purpose, all necessary safeguards and precautions have been put in place, and the public and local government have been informed of all efforts to mitigate risk of transmission of the disease.”Īny California residents diagnosed with the coronavirus at Travis Air Force Base, a quarantine site in Northern California, would be sent to Fairview, according to a statement made in court documents by Costa Mesa’s emergency services manager, Jason Dempsey. The City Council held an emergency closed session Friday afternoon, when it voted unanimously to file for the injunction. “The plaintiffs now seek to prevent Costa Mesa from becoming ground zero to a state and potentially nationwide public health crisis caused because the state and federal governments have not sought to include local officials and emergency personnel in the planning and execution of their efforts.” “This highly communicable and deadly disease has no known vaccination or cure and has killed thousands,” the city’s filing in District Court stated.
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