A federal judge has temporarily blocked state and federal officials from moving as many as 50 Americans infected with the coronavirus to a city in southern California for quarantine.
U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Stanton, an Obama appointee, issued an order late Friday to prevent the transfer of coronavirus patients from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to Costa Mesa in Orange County. The patients were previously quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan after a mini-outbreak on the vessel.
Local officials argued before the court that the federal government’s plan did not include sufficient protections from the virus for residents. They swiftly sought court intervention after being informed by the state government of plans to move patients to a state-owned facility in Costa Mesa as soon as Sunday.