WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nexstar) — More than 100 coronavirus evacuees are heading to Lackland Airforce Base in San Antonio — but are local health officials ready?
Texas Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett says they aren’t.
“San Antonio has the capacity to test 75 people,” Doggett says. “That is not enough if we have the possibility of community spread.”
Doggett says right now evacuees are not required to be tested for the virus before being released from the base. Individuals must volunteer to be tested.
“We are told that some of the people who left recently from the first two rounds were never tested. We want to help, but we want to help them in a way that does not endanger the civilian population,” says Doggett.
Meanwhile, Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul says the Defense Department should keep evacuees in quarantine for more than the required 14 days, just to be safe.
Right now, the quarantine center at Lackland Air Force Base has 271 available rooms.
