US announces 15th virus case, this one in Texas evacuee

Another case of the new coronavirus has been confirmed in a US evacuee from China, this one in a person under quarantine in Texas. Health officials announced the 15th confirmed US case Thursday. The infection was confirmed through a Wednesday night lab test.

The patient, who had been flown to at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, is now in isolation at a hospital and was reported in stable condition. Two earlier US cases were found among evacuees who were flown last week from the Chinese city of Wuhan to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in Southern California. The latest of those cases were reported Wednesday night.

Hundreds of people, including U.S. State Department employees and their families, have arrived at military bases in Texas, California, and Nebraska aboard chartered flights from Wuhan, a city of 11 million that is at the center of the outbreak. The virus can cause fever, coughing, wheezing and pneumonia. Health officials think it spreads mainly from droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes, similar to how the flu spreads.