CDC identifies 13th patient with coronavirus in US

Federal health officials on Tuesday confirmed another case of the novel coronavirus in the U.S., bringing the total number of confirmed infections to 13.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the individual was an evacuee from Wuhan, China, who was under federal quarantine in San Diego.

But the patient had been allowed to leave UC San Diego hospital and return to the quarantine site after a “mix-up” with the testing results, a CDC official told reporters Tuesday. 

“It turns out there was probably a mix-up, and the original test wasn’t negative,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the CDC. 

“There has been a new test collected in order to understand whether the person is still symptomatic, so there was just a little bit of a mix-up there.” 

Schuchat did not provide any information about how the mix-up happened. 

According to a brief statement released by UC San Diego Health late Monday, four patients admitted to its isolation units last week were discharged back to their quarantine quarters at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar after the CDC said coronavirus tests came back negative.

Further testing revealed that one of the four patients tested positive for coronavirus, the statement said.

The patient was returned to the hospital for observation and isolation until cleared by CDC for release.

Schuchat said the patient’s contacts with others are believed to be limited but is being reassessed. 

The CDC is quarantining an undisclosed number of Americans who have been evacuated from China. Individuals should be removed from quarantine sites and isolated if they begin showing symptoms or test positive for the coronavirus, Schuchat said. 

According to the university, another patient from the quarantine site was also transported to UC San Diego Health. The patient is being evaluated and will remain admitted until the test results are confirmed by the CDC.

Updated at 12:35 p.m.