Second coronavirus case confirmed in San Diego

SAN DIEGO —  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed San Diego’s second novel coronavirus case Wednesday afternoon.

Like the first, which was announced Monday, the infected patient is an evacuee hospitalized with UC San Diego Health System shortly after arriving at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar on Friday.

The university also said Wednesday that it has received an additional patient for testing from the quarantined group of evacuees living at Miramar, bringing the total to nine since last week. The three patients who remain under the university’s care are said to be doing well; others have been returned to quarantine.

All are being cared for in rooms isolated from other hospital units and equipped with special negative-pressure air-handling equipment designed to keep any airborne pathogen from spreading.

The university moved to quell public concern about infection risk, noting that the patients are being cared for under isolation by personnel wearing protective equipment including masks, face shields, gowns and gloves.

“Patients and visitors can feel confident in making and keeping their appointments and using our services as usual,” a university statement said.

Unlike the first patient who tested positive, the second remained in an isolation room at the hospital when results were received. An unexpected processing delay at CDC labs in Atlanta inadvertently led local CDC officials to believe that the first patient had tested negative, so she was discharged from the hospital. Officials then learned by text message that her sample had not yet been tested and later turned out to be positive, forcing them to readmit her.