For the second time this week, an American who was evacuated to the United States from the Diamond Princess cruise ship is being transferred to UNMC/Nebraska Medicine for monitoring for the coronavirus. This person has tested positive for the disease but was originally being monitored in California at Travis Air Force Base.
This individual is the spouse of one of the 13 people who arrived in Omaha for monitoring and treatment February 17. This person will be taken directly to the National Quarantine Unit on the UNMC/Nebraska Medical Center campus.
This will be the last time spouses from the Diamond Princess cruise ship will be reunited at UNMC/Nebraska Medicine. One person here still has a spouse elsewhere, but that person has tested negative for the disease, and those who are negative won’t be transported.
Scheduled arrival of this individual is 9:45 p.m. CST February 25th at Omaha’s Eppley Airfield. The landing will be handled in similar fashion to previous arrivals, with the plane remaining in an isolated area of Eppley tarmac, with no involvement with the main passenger terminal.
The addition of this person to the group being monitored at UNMC/Nebraska Medicine brings the total here to 15. Thirteen people are being monitored in the 20-bed National Quarantine Unit, while two are receiving care in the 10-bed Nebraska Biocontainment Unit. Currently 13 people have tested positive for COVID-19 while two remain negative. If they remain healthy, those who are negative could leave quarantine March 2.