Do you remember this story?
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/whistleblower-says-federal-employees-flown-from-coronavirus-sites-didnt-follow-safety-protocols-11582840144?redirect=amp#click=t.co/GRZDV5TKWA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.wsj.com/articles/whistleblower-says-federal-employees-flown-from-coronavirus-sites-didnt-follow-safety-protocols-11582840144?redirect=amp#click=t.co/GRZDV5TKWA
Whistleblower Says Federal Employees Flown From Coronavirus Sites Didn’t Follow Safety Protocols
Employees weren’t tested for virus before leaving California quarantine sites on commercial flights, complaint says
The employees weren’t tested for the coronavirus before they left two California quarantine sites, the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, and flew home, the person familiar with the complaint said. There is no evidence that any of the workers contracted or spread the virus.
Here's another story about it in a little more detail:
<a class="break-all" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-us-whistleblower.html#click=t.co/3poGwpRIdM" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/us/politics/coronavirus-us-whistleblower.html#click=t.co/3poGwpRIdM
WASHINGTON — Federal health employees interacted with Americans quarantined for possible exposure to the coronavirus without proper medical training or protective gear, then scattered into the general population, according to a government whistle-blower who lawmakers say faced retaliation for reporting concerns.
The team was “improperly deployed” to two military bases in California to assist the processing of Americans who had been evacuated from coronavirus hot zones in China and elsewhere, according to a portion of a narrative account shared with Congress and obtained by The New York Times ahead of a formal complaint to the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent government agency that handles federal whistle-blower complaints.
Staff members from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families were sent to Travis Air Force Base and March Air Reserve Base in late January and early February and were ordered to enter quarantined areas, including a hangar where coronavirus evacuees were being received, the complaint said. They were not provided safety-protocol training until five days into their assignment, said the whistle-blower, who is described as a senior leader at the health agency.
Without proper training or equipment, some of the exposed staff members moved freely around and off the bases, with at least one person staying in a nearby hotel and leaving California on a commercial flight. Many were unaware of the need to test their temperatures three times a day.
“I soon began to field panicked calls from my leadership team and deployed staff members expressing concerns with the lack of H.H.S. communication and coordination, staff being sent into quarantined areas without personal protective equipment, training or experience in managing public health emergencies, safety protocols and the potential danger to both themselves and members of the public they come into contact with,” the whistle-blower wrote. House Democrats said on Thursday that the official who voiced concerns to superiors about the situation was subjected to professional retaliation.
In a statement on Thursday, the Department of Health and Human Services acknowledged the complaint, which was first reported by The Washington Post, without elaborating.
“We take all whistle-blower complaints very seriously and are providing the complainant all appropriate protections under the Whistleblower Protection Act,” said Caitlin B. Oakley, a deputy assistant secretary and a national spokeswoman for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs. “We are evaluating the complaint and have nothing further to add at this time.”
A former department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that two senior officials there who were directly involved with the situation believed the whistle-blower was making the accusations in an effort to protect their job after being told they would be reassigned. The officials involved contended that the teams were not in any danger, the person said, and that testing was not done because none of the personnel showed symptoms of being sick.
The account surfaced as President Trump seeks to play down the danger of a domestic coronavirus outbreak amid bipartisan concern about a sluggish and disjointed response by the administration to an illness that public health officials have said is likely to spread across the United States. The first American case of coronavirus in a patient with no known contact with hot zones or other coronavirus patients emerged this week near Travis Air Force Base.
The complaint raised questions about whether the Trump administration had taken adequate precautions in its handling of the virus, and whether Mr. Trump’s minimization of the risks had been mirrored by other top officials when confronted with potentially disturbing developments.
The workers who were sent to the scene were not medical professionals and usually help low-income Americans returning to the United States from foreign countries during crises.
In a narrative prepared for Congress, the whistle-blower painted a grim portrait of staff members who found themselves suddenly thrust into a federal effort to confront the coronavirus in the United States. The whistle-blower said their own health concerns were dismissed by senior administration officials as detrimental to staff “morale.” They were “admonished,” the complainant said, and “accused of not being team players,” and had their “mental health and emotional stability questioned.”
After a phone call with health agency leaders to raise their fears about exposure to the virus, the staff members described a “whitewashing” of the situation, characterizing the response as “corrupt” and a “cover-up,” according to the narrative, and telling the whistle-blower that senior officials had treated them as a “nuisance” and did not want to hear their worries about health and safety.
It's being linked to this story:
www.sfgate.com/news/medical/amp/New-US-coronavirus-case-may-be-1st-from-unknown-15087548.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Desktop)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral&__twitter_impression=true
Vacaville at epicenter of coronavirus mystery
California health officials on Friday confirmed the second case of novel coronavirus in the United States believed to have been transmitted to a person who didn’t travel internationally or come in close contact with anyone who had it.
Health officials in San Jose said the patient was an older adult woman with chronic health conditions who does not have a travel history or any known contact with a traveler or infected person. It comes a day after state officials said a woman hospitalized at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento had contracted the illness after no known contact.
And
The California Department of Public Health said Friday that the state will receive enough kits from the CDC to test up to 1,200 people, a day after Gov. Gavin Newsom complained to federal health officials that the state had already exhausted its initial 200 test kits.
And
As infectious disease experts fanned out in the Solano County city of Vacaville, some residents in the city between San Francisco and Sacramento stocked up on supplies amid fears things could get worse despite official reassurances, while others took the news in stride.
The woman in the community who has coronavirus first sought treatment at NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Vacaville, before her condition worsened and she was transferred to the medical center in Sacramento.
Sacramento County’s top health official told The Sacramento Bee on Friday that he expects several medical workers to test positive themselves in the next few days. Numerous workers at both hospitals have been tested, but the tests were sent to labs approved by the CDC and generally take three to four days to complete.
Now I had no idea where Vacaville is in relation to Travic Air Base. So I took a look: