SAN ANTONIO — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is preparing for a pandemic.
Nancy Messonnier, the CDC's director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases said the virus, called COVID-19, is "rapidly evolving and spreading" and that "successful containment at U.S. borders is becoming problematic."
Mayor Ron Nirenberg and Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff are still pushing to keep the disease from going around San Antonio. They want to make sure evacuees stay under quarantine at JBSA-Lackland until it's confirmed they have the coronavrius.
At the moment, those who show symptoms are transferred to facilities and hospitals off base for evaluations while they wait for their test results to come back.
Last week, Judge Wolff and Mayor Nirenberg sent a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives asking for help in making the change, but no change came. On Tuesday morning, they sent out another letter to the U.S. Department of Defense, asking the same thing.
"We're trying to be reasonable here," Judge Wolff said. "These are Americans, we want them to get well, we want them to be helped, but we don't like the idea that they're putting a risk to our community by transporting them out of the setting where they are."
Judge Wolff said to date, 235 evacuees have come through JBSA-Lackland. Only six of them have required hospital care, yet more than 18 evacuees have been transported off base with mild symptoms.
Judge Wolff said this is dangerous for the citizens of San Antonio. He's even more worried now after hearing the latest concerns from the CDC.
"I think this just highlights the situation and why they should not be sending them out in our community," Judge Wolff said.
When asked if the city regrets its decision to welcome evacuees in the first place, Judge Wolff said they were never given a choice.
"I must tell you, they didn't ask us. They didn't call us ahead of time, they didn't tell us what the plan was," Judge Wolff said. "It's a military base controlled by the federal government. So our opinions were not even asked, at least mine wasn't."
Wolff said if this second letter is ignored, there's not much else they can do.
There is currently no vaccine to prevent the virus or medication to treat it, but Messonnier said individuals and local communities should prepare for the possibility of an outbreak by implementing methods of "non-pharmaceutical intervention," or NPIs. She warned U.S citizens and local communities to prepare for "disruption to everyday life".
"We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this is going to be bad," Messonnier said.
The second group of travelers at JBSA-Lackland will be able to leave once their 14-day quarantine ends on Monday.
Read the full letter below, or click here to open the letter in a new window.
More coronavirus coverage from KENS 5:
- Nirenberg pushing for change to have coronavirus evacuees stay at JBSA-Lackland for testing, treatment
- Texas couple quarantined at Lackland AFB shares Day 2 details of honeymoon turned upside down
- Judge Wolff asks for coronavirus evaluations to be done at JBSA-Lackland rather than local hospital
- CDC announces new plan to prevent further spread of coronavirus in U.S
- Quarantine lifted for first wave of coronavirus evacuees in SA