(Tokyo and Texas) Here's an update on the two Tennessee families in quarantine for the coronavirus. Here's an update on the two Tennessee families in quarantine for the coronavirus. The Tri-Cities physician and his wife remain in Tokyo, and the Grainger County couple are quarantined at a military base in Texas.
Tri-Cities Physician and Wife
An East Tennessee woman is now hospitalized in Tokyo, Japan after testing "positive" while being quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
Dr. Arnold Hopland and his wife Jeanie from Elizabethton, have been in Japan since the first of February.
He practices family medicine in the Tri-Cities, and when he and his wife were preparing to leave the quarantined cruise ship for a flight home, his wife's final test returned "positive".
Unfortunately, ship stewards had already taken the family's luggage to the airport for placement on fights chartered by the U.S. government to take citizens back to America.
Dr. Hopland has now learned that their luggage was found abandoned in a parking lot at a San Antonio airport. He is hopeful that someone will forward it to Elizabethton.
The hospital's policy is to keep a patient who tests "positive", until they have had two consecutive "negative" coronavirus tests.
While in the hospital, Mrs. Hopland's first test came back "negative". A second test has not been done, because there are no more coronavirus tests. The demand is so high that suppliers have not been able to manufacture enough of the tests. It is not known when additional kits will be available.
Four East Tennesseans
In addition to the Hopland's from the Tri-Cities, another Tennessee couple arrived earlier this week for the quarantine in Texas. They are from Grainger County. That's about 100-miles away from the other family.
The World Health Organization reports that there are over 75,000 infected with the virus, and the death toll is over 2,000.
The 14 American citizens who were evacuated from Japan on Monday, are now quarantined on a military base for at least two-weeks. They bring the number of coronavirus cases in the United States to 29. Statistics are showing that the disease is fatal with only 2 per cent of the persons infected. However, that risk dramatically increases with age.
