SACRAMENTO, Calif. — UPDATE: 8:20 p.m.
After spending less than 24 hours in a Folsom hospital, a man who tested positive for the coronavirus while quarantined at Travis Air Force Base was transferred to his home state of Utah for treatment.
Mark Jorgensen was evacuated from the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship in Japan where more than 700 hundred passengers and employees tested positive for the coronavirus. Jorgensen did not test positive in Japan and was evacuated to Travis where was quarantined for 14 days.
At the tail end of his quarantine, Jorgensen tested positive for the virus and was transported to NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield for treatment. On Feb. 27, Jorgensen was transported to Mercy Hospital of Folsom.
Jorgensen was transferred on Friday to the Intermountain Medical Center in Utah at the request of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hospital officials said.
Jorgensen's wife, Jerri, tested positive for the virus while in Japan where she is still receiving testing.
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A man who was being quarantined at Travis Air Force Base after being evacuated from a cruise ship docked in Japan said he is now being transported for coronavirus treatment at a Folsom hospital.
Mark Jorgensen, a Utah man who has been publicly documenting his journey on Facebook, tested positive for the virus, also known as COVID-19, on Feb. 25, while under quarantine at Travis. He was transported to NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield for treatment.
In a Facebook post Thursday night, Jorgensen said he was being transported to Mercy Hospital of Folsom.
"I got an unexpected phone call from the doctor and the nurse, and I'm leaving," Jorgensen said. "Not home — I wish. But I'm actually going to — it looks like I'm going to Folsom, California... Not really sure why, but that's what's happening.
Hospital officials would not confirm to ABC10 they are treating patients for the coronavirus and directed questions to Sacramento County health officials. ABC10 reached out to county officials late Thursday night, but calls and a text were not immediately answered.
Officials from Solano County and Travis Air Force Base on Thursday declared a local emergency after a woman tested positive for the coronavirus, the first known person-to-person case spread in the community in the U.S.
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Health officials said the woman was not in contact with anyone at the Air Force base. She went to the NorthBay VacaValley Hospital in Solano County and stayed at the hospital for three days before being transported to UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
Health officials said the woman never showed symptoms of the virus at NorthBay VacaValley, so she was not tested. She was later tested by the CDC at UC Davis and was confirmed to have the virus.
Mark's wife, Jerri, told ABC10 in a Facetime interview from her hospital room in Japan, that Mark has been asymptomatic this entire time.
Jerri said she's hopeful that Mark could be released.
"As soon as he gets two negatives — it could be tomorrow," Jerri said. "He'll get tested every day as well, it could be three or four days from now, it could be a week from now, we just don’t know — but when he gets those two negatives, he's out of there as well."
Mark and Jerri were on vacation with their two friends, Carl Goldman and Jeri Seratti-Goldman, on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship when they were docked off the shores of Japan for quarantine.
While quarantined, Jerri tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming one of 705 people on the cruise ship who would eventually test positive for the virus.
Jerri said that, despite having tested positive for COVID-19, she has yet to show any signs of the virus.
"I don't need to be in the hospital," Jerri said. "I've never received any kind of treatment as far as medicines, because I don't need them. We're not being treated; we're being quarantined."
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Meanwhile, Carl and Jeri's tests came back negative for the virus in Japan and were evacuated to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha. While on the plane to Nebraska, Carl, who owns KHTS radio station in Santa Clarita, wrote in a blog post that he started to get a high temperature.
Carl said he tested positive for the virus on Feb. 18, 2020, after landing in Omaha. His wife, Jeri, tested negative for the virus, but is still on the Nebraska Medicine campus, Carl wrote.
Jerri told ABC10 that she's been receiving daily nasal and throat swabs, and she said she hopes to test negative twice and be released soon.
In the meantime, Jerri said she's doing yoga and Pilates in her room to stay healthy, waiting for another adventure when she's free.
"Live your life and quit living in fear," Jerri said. "That would be my biggest message."
Becca Habegger contributed to this reporting.
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