JBSA LACKLAND

This year, a modified version of Operation Home Cooking returned with fewer host families and trainees. Participants said they felt right at home with the host families who opened their doors for them.

SAN ANTONIO – Wednesday marks one year since a San Antonio couple was allowed to return home after a period of quarantine at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland. The order to stay on the military base came after the couple and other U.S. citizens were pulled from a cruise ship where some passengers tested positive for COVID-19. The couple was told to stay inside their cabin on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship as it sat off Japan’s coast. Some of those passengers, including Don and Natty, were able to board a plane back to the United States. Don remembers when he was finally able to go back to his home in San Antonio.

SAN ANTONIO – Update: Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and the City of San Antonio announced Thursday that a case of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed. The patient, who was quarantined at Joint Base San Antonio Lackland, was officially diagnosed with the disease that first originated in Wuhan, China. Original story: City officials will be holding a news conference Thursday morning regarding the coronavirus situation at JBSA-Lackland, a source told KSAT 12 News anchor Steve Spriester. About 50 minutes after Spriester got word of the news conference, city officials sent an email confirming the news conference at 10 a.m. at Municipal Plaza. Ninety-one evacuees from China arrived at the base Friday for a 14-day, federally-mandated quarantine as a precaution against the virus.

The passengers will be met by a team of CDC personnel to assess their health when they arrive. CDC staff will conduct risk assessments to ensure the health of each traveler, including temperature checks and observing for respiratory symptoms, officials said. Some passengers being evacuated from China to the U.S. in response to the coronavirus outbreak in that country will be housed at JBSA-Lackland. CDC officials will work with the state and local public health departments to transport any passenger exhibiting symptoms to a hospital for further evaluation. The virus has infected more than 20,000 people across 26 countries and territories and killed more than 420, but the majority of cases -- currently an estimated 78% -- are coming from Hubei province in China, officials said.