“This is a new one in terms of claiming a right not to have infectious disease introduced into your community,” said Polly Price, a professor of law and global public health at Emory University. Although cities and towns once claimed “an absolute right” to guard against disease, she said, state-level control over isolation and quarantine has been the norm for more than a century.

In a decision that could complicate California’s efforts to deal with the coronavirus crisis, Judge Josephine L. Staton on Monday kept a temporary restraining order in place that would prevent the infected patients from being moved to Costa Mesa, at least for now. The judge said she would reconsider the issue after state and federal authorities provide more details about how they plan to protect the health of the community, as well as the people with coronavirus. She set a hearing for March 2.

“The state has shown great empathy for the patients,” the judge said in a ruling that drew applause, adding that she wanted to see “the same empathy for the residents of Costa Mesa.”

It was uncertain exactly how many people California intended to move into the facility in Costa Mesa, but they are among the 53 people in the United States who have tested positive for the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all of those people had traveled to Asia, and many of them have been staying on American military bases since returning to the United States on government-arranged flights.

In recent days, officials had announced that infected Americans at Travis Air Force Base who were not ill enough to be hospitalized would have to leave the base in Fairfield, Calif. Many of them had been evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan.