On Friday, the 21st of February, U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton issued a temporary restraining order to stop the transportation of the 30 to 50 people infected with the coronavirus to Costa Mesa. Judge Josephine L. Staton set a hearing for Monday at 2 P.M. to find out for certain if the request will be done. 

The order was opposed by city officials as they said the proposal came with no information about how people surrounding the area will be protected from the deadly virus.  The government decided to hold the 30 to 50 people in the Fairview Development Center until the 109-acre center is completely suitable for quarantine. 

“This situation kind of scares me. The coronavirus is a serious matter that no one should take lightly and Costa Mesa is in the middle of multiple schools, which is even scarier,” says Jazmin Lopez (12).

The virus has been around for a while now but hasn’t spread as widely as it has in the present. The World Health Organization has yet to categorize the virus as a “pandemic” to describe the threatening crisis. 

“We are now asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this is going to be bad,” says Nancy Messonnier, who is the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The U.S. government has prohibited those who are infected to travel internationally. The Department of State Hospitals for California is now closely monitoring the staff members who have possibly come in contact with infected patients. 

“When I first heard of the disease, it didn’t frighten me, but as it [became] more dangerous, I didn’t want to be near anyone thinking they’d probably have it. Not everyone’s the same so I don’t know exactly since [the coronavirus] has been around for a while but not as big,” says Sheyli Ortiz (9).

Even when multiple patients have tested positive for the virus, they have nowhere to go as long as the proposal is held back. Patients who have tested positive can not be kept at the Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield anymore or transferred to Costa Mesa as long as the proposal is not passed.