Fight to keep the coronavirus out of the OC comes to an end

Novel Coronavirus. (NIAID/flickr)

Local and federal government officials struggle on what to do with sick patients

After weeks of debate between the city of Costa Mesa and the federal government, the OC city claimed victory this week as feds drop their proposal.

The highly controversial dispute began after the federal government made a request to use a state owned facility, the Fairview Development Center, in the heart of Costa Mesa as a site to house 30 to 50 patients infected with the Coronavirus.

The move was made without the knowledge of the city of Costa Mesa, so when city officials caught wind of the plan they filed a temporary restraining order to impede the transfer of the patients.

The city noted that the abandoned facility was in the general vicinity of an elementary school, golf course, and several residential areas putting many people at risk if they were to use it as a quarantine site.

The city then continued to take legal action to prevent the use of the facility in fear that the housing of coronavirus patients in such a densely populated area was dangerous and risky. A court hearing was scheduled for Monday, Mar. 2 in Santa Ana but was later cancelled as the feds pulled their proposal.

The judge that was assigned the case, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton, sided with Costa Mesa’s cry that the fed’s proposal was “flawed, unreasonable decision-making process that wrongly excluded county and local professionals and government leaders.”

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