North Bend Fire Training Academy no longer coronavirus quarantine site

The Fire Training Academy near North Bend is no longer a coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine site, according to the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and the Washington State Patrol (WSP).

Fire academy in North Bend selected as coronavirus quarantine site

The current class of firefighters have returned to the academy for training, and are living in the dormitories.

“At no point was the facility used for quarantine purposes, but it did give the state a point of initial readiness for this evolving situation,” WSP Communications Director Chris Loftis said Thursday in a news release.

Earlier in February, the Fire Training Academy had been designated as a quarantine site for travelers from the Hubei Province of China who were unable to self-quarantine and had not yet shown symptoms of COVID-19. Any sick individuals would have been sent to a hospital.

No patients were transported to or held at the facility near North Bend, and it will no longer be used for this purpose.

On Feb. 7, the Washington State DOH identified a second possible quarantine location near the Public Health Lab in Shoreline. The stated purpose of these sites is to prevent healthy people who were potentially exposed to coronavirus from spreading it to others.

The first documented case of COVID-19 in the United States was in Snohomish County. The patient was quarantined at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, and was discharged on Feb. 3.

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According to the Washington State DOH, there is one case pending test results, 24 negative cases, and 779 under public health supervision. Those under supervision includes those at risk of exposure who are monitoring their health, close contacts of confirmed cases, and people who have returned from China in the last 14 days.

Find more information and updated counts at the DOH coronavirus page here.