200 US Citizens arriving from China quarantined

US Citizens fleeing Wuhan, China from the coronavirus are home, but the nightmare journey for 200 Americans continues.

The new home for at least 72 hours will be the March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, in Southern California, where the passengers on an unmarked Boeing 747 arriving from Wuhan will be quarantined..

The Boeing 747 with red and gold stripes and no passenger windows, landed at March Air Reserve Base on Wednesday morning, just after 8 a.m

The aircraft, carrying U.S. State Department employees, family members, and US citizens, touched down at the March Reserve Base shortly after 8 a.m. local time. It originally was flying to Ontario International Airport in California, about 25 miles away. No reason was given for the diversion.

Base personnel are providing air traffic control, landing and taxiing guidance but will not be in contact with any passengers, who will be offloaded and screened by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local public health officials for the new virus, now responsible for sickening more than 6,000 people worldwide and killing more than 130 people in China.

All passengers onboard had already passed two screenings in China and were screened twice more while refueling in Anchorage, Alaska. They will undergo additional screenings in California and be temporarily housed there for a period of time, officials said. One passenger received medical attention for a minor injury that occurred before boarding the plane, the Associated Press reported.

“Our primary objective is to facilitate the safe return of these Americans while protecting the public’s health,” the CDC said in a statement on Tuesday.