RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif. — Living just two miles from March Air Reserve Base for the last 26 years never bothered Barbara Wellings. 

But when a plane carrying nearly 200 people from the coronavirus epicenter in Wuhan, China arrived last week, Wellings said the mood shifted in her neighborhood of Orangecrest, right outside the base in Riverside County. 

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News updates about the virus and the evacuees who are now under a mandatory quarantine at the military base, are being shared in online neighborhood groups Wellings follows. 

“There is a lot of the concern that I’ve read: people felt like it was dumped here without, you know, any input from the communities that it affects," Wellings said of the posts. 

The passengers on the plane were originally going to be held for just 72 hours, but Friday officials announced mandatory quarantine of 14 days, the incubation period for the virus, from when the plane left China.  

This is the CDC’s first mandatory quarantine in more than 50 years, which is as long as Wellings worked as a registered nurse. She is now retired. 

“It concerns me mainly because in my adult years, I really don’t remember quite something as extensive as they’re going with this," said Wellings.

What concerns Wellings most is the amount of questions surrounding the outbreak of the virus: how many people can catch it from one infected person and how quickly a treatment or vaccine can be developed.  

“We don’t know. That’s the biggest thing, we don’t know so much about it," she said. 

The decision to quarantine the passengers was made in response to reports of new confirmed cases of coronavirus around the U.S. 

Wellings was happy officials extended the quarantine, especially after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency over coronavirus. 

She said she’s staying alert and taking extra precautions.  But she’s also thinking about the people from that plane.

“Could you imagine being stuck somewhere for 14 days where you don’t wanna be and everybody watching every move you make. I certainly can't," Wellings said.