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Pixie needs someone to take her home
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enterprise THE DAVIS
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020
Shadow of coronavirus reaches UCD
Med Center treating possibly first truly local patient BY ANNE TERNUS-BELLAMY Enterprise staff writer
CALEB HAMPTON/ENTERPRISE PHOTO
From left, Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman; Michael Sheehan, associate vice chancellor of housing, dining and divisional operations at UC Davis; and Dr. Cindy Schorzman, medical director of student health and counseling services at UCD; discuss the response to students who were potentially exposed to the coronavirus.
Three students quarantined; one tested BY CALEB HAMPTON Enterprise staff writer Three UC Davis students were quarantined this week after their potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), UC Davis and Yolo County officials announced Thursday. The students were roommates in Kearney Hall, a dorm-style residence hall on UC Davis’ main campus. “We know that these three students were potentially exposed to coronavirus,” Yolo County Health Officer Dr. Ron Chapman said Thursday in a press conference at UC Davis. One of the students exhibited mild symptoms consistent with COVID19 and provided samples that were
sent for testing, Chapman said. The student has been housed in an isolated off-campus setting since Tuesday. On Wednesday night, the student’s two roommates were moved out of Kearney Hall and into an on-campus apartment that UC Davis keeps vacant for emergency housing purposes. UC Davis Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Housing, Dining and Divisional Operations Michael Sheehan described the apartment as a “non-dorm setting” that is isolated from other students. Sheehan said university staff are following public health protocol to care for the students, including delivering food to them while they are quarantined for 14 days.
In keeping with guidance from the CDC, the two roommates have not been tested for COVID-19 because they have not shown any symptoms of the virus. As of Thursday, no one in Yolo County had tested positive for COVID-19. The first student’s test results are not expected to be available for three or four days, as there is currently only one COVID-19 testing site in the United States. All testing is being done at the Center for Disease Prevention and Control headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Dozens more labs across the country are expected to be authorized to start testing by next week. The students are being kept in isolation “out of an abundance of caution,” UC Davis Chancellor Gary
SEE QUARANTINED, PAGE A5
Former Davis woman mourned
BY LAUREN KEENE Enterprise staff writer
BY LAUREN KEENE
COURTESY PHOTO
WOODLAND — Family and friends of an Esparto couple gathered outside a Yolo County courtroom Wednesday, grieving for a former Davis woman killed in a suspected drunkendriving crash, and for her husband who now faces murder charges in connection with her death. Joshua Douglas Muller, 30, did not enter a plea to the murder count or an accompanying charge of
VOL. 123 NO. 26
SEE MED CENTER, PAGE A5
Lake County man taken into custody after bizarre Yolo crime spree
Husband arraigned for alleged DUI crash in Winters Enterprise staff writer
The UC Davis Medical Center is treating a patient who may be the first person in the country to have contracted the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) from community exposure. The California Department of Public Health reported Wednesday the individual is a resident of Solano County who had no known exposure to the virus through travel or close contact with a known infected individual. At a press conference Thursday morning, Gov. Gavin Newsom described the patient as a woman but said no additional details about her would be provided. An email sent out Wednesday by two UC Davis officials said the patient arrived at the medical center in Sacramento last Wednesday but was only tested for the virus on Sunday despite a request made by med center physicians that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention conduct a test when the patient was admitted. “Today the CDC confirmed the patient’s test was positive,” said the email from David Lubarsky, vicechancellor of human health services, and Brad Simmons, interim CEO of UC Davis Medical Center. “This is not the first
COVID-19 patient we have treated, and because of the precautions we have had in place since this patient’s arrival, we believe there has been minimal potential for exposure here at UC Davis Medical Center,” the email said. Nevertheless, a small number of medical center employees have been asked to stay home and monitor their temperatures. Lubarsky and Simmons said the patient was transferred to UC Davis from “another Northern California hospital” on Wednesday, Feb 19. “When the patient arrived, the patient had already been intubated, was on a ventilator, and given droplet protection orders because of an undiagnosed and suspected viral condition,” the email said. “Since the patient arrived with a suspected viral infection, our care teams have been taking the proper infection prevention precautions during the patient’s stay. “Upon admission, our team asked public health officials if this case could be COVID-19. We requested COVID-19 testing by the CDC, since neither Sacramento County nor (the California Department of Public Health) is doing
“They were madly in love,” friend Ana Feliciano said of Sarah and Joshua Muller. gross vehicular manslaughter, instead seeking a two-week continuance while his family determines whether to seek a public defender or retain a private attorney. He stands accused of causing a vehicle crash in Winters on Saturday that killed his wife, 39-year-old Sarah Morrissey Muller, a
INDEX
Arts . . . . . . . . . .B1 Events. . . . . . . .B8 Pets . . . . . . . . . A3 Classifieds . . . . A8 Forum . . . . . . . . A4 Sports . . . . . .B10 Comics . . . . . . . A7 Obituary . . . . . . A5 The Wary I . . . . A2
graduate of Davis’ Martin Luther King High School and mother of four known for her outsized personality and wicked sense of humor. “Everybody loved her. She was a great gal,” said Mike Morrissey, Sarah’s father, who traveled from Coos Bay, Ore., for Wednesday’s court
SEE CRASH, PAGE A6
WEATHER Sa Saturday: Pa Partly sunny. Hig High 65. Low 41.
A Lake County man was arrested Tuesday following an afternoon crime spree in Winters and Esparto during which he allegedly stole several cars, burglarized homes and tried to carjack a teacher at Esparto High School. Roland Engels, 37, is now in Yolo County Jail custody, facing a host of charges including multiple counts of burglary, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, vehicle theft and attempted carjacking. The Yolo County Sheriff ’s Office gave the following account of the incident, which began at about 2:45 p.m. Tuesday when a man, “reportedly covered in blood,” approached a subject at a Winters gas station. “The bloodied man
made a strange statement and drove away, prompting the citizen to become concerned and report her observations to law enforcement,” sheriff ’s officials said in a news release. “The man’s appearance and behavior were so concerning a second witness from the same location also called in with the information.” It was later determined that the vehicle the man was driving was just stolen from a residence in the 30000 block of The Horseshoe, just outside of Winters, where a residential burglary also occurred. Ten minutes after receiving the suspicious person reports in Winters, deputies were dispatched to a residence near the intersection of County Roads 23 and 86A, south of Esparto, where a resident reported that a man had entered her home and
threatened her with a knife while demanding her car keys. Deputies later found the vehicle the suspect was driving in Winters, abandoned in a ditch nearby this residence. The suspect was also found to have entered a total of three homes in this area, ultimately stealing another car from one of the properties. “As deputies were arriving in the area they began receiving reports of an attempted carjacking outside of Esparto High School. The suspect was not successful and did not harm the victim of this incident, a teacher at the school,” sheriff ’s officials said. At about 3:25 p.m., deputies located the man near the Esparto High School campus, still
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SEE SPREE, PAGE A6
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