covid-19 pandemic in california covid-19 pandemic in california ten of the first twenty confirmed covid-19 cases in the united states occurred in california, the first of which was confirmed on january 26, 2020. all of the early confirmed cases were persons who had recently travelled to china, as testing was restricted to this group. on january 29, 2020, as disease containment protocols were still being developed, the u.s. department of state evacuated 195 persons from wuhan, china aboard a chartered flight to march air reserve base in riverside county, and in the process may have contributed to spread within the state and the us at large. on february 5, 2020, the u.s. evacuated 345 more citizens from hubei province to two military bases in california, travis air force base in solano county and marine corps air station miramar, san diego, where they were quarantined for 14 days. a state of emergency was declared in the state on march 4, 2020. a mandatory statewide stay-at-home order was issued on march 19, 2020, that was ended on january 25, 2021. on april 6, 2021, the state announced plans to fully reopen the economy by june 15, 2021.