Concerns over Ebola have shut down schools in two states.
Two public schools in Ohio are closed because staff members were on the same flight as Amber Vinson, the second nurse who contracted Ebola and flew from Ohio to Texas with a low grade fever.
An e-mail was sent to parents of children at Solon Middle School and Parkside Elementary School.
“This circumstance came to light late in the day and we have been working since then to get as much information as possible from public health authorities,” the district’s email read.
“Although we believe what the science community and public health officials are telling us about the low risk of possible transmission of the virus through indirect contact, we are nonetheless taking the unusual step of closing the dual school building for Thursday so that we can have the schools cleaned and disinfected.”
The Belton Independent School District in Texas closed all three schools because of two students who were on the flight.
“Canceling classes at the three campuses will allow us to thoroughly clean and disinfect the schools and buses that served them this week. It will also allow health officials additional time to re-assess the health risk to passengers on the plane,” said Belton Superintendent Susan Kincannon in a statement. “I’m frustrated that we didn’t learn until late tonight that the CDC was re-evaluating the health risk. The health and safety of our students is my first priority.”
One of the signs of Ebola infection is a fever.
Yet the CDC allowed the latest American to be infected with the virus to fly on an airplane after showing a low-grade fever.
The Centers for Disease Control admits they allowed Amber Vinson of Dallas to fly from Cleveland to Dallas with a fever of 99.5.
“Although she did not report any symptoms and she did not meet the fever threshold of 100.4, she did report at that time she took her temperature and found it to be 99.5,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden. “I don’t think that changes the level of risk of people around her. She did not vomit, she was not bleeding, so the level of risk of people around her would be extremely low.”
However, the CDC is contacting everyone who was on the flight about their possible exposure to Ebola.
“Those who have exposures to Ebola, she should not have traveled on a commercial airline,” said Dr. Frieden. “The CDC guidance in this setting outlines the need for controlled movement. That can include a charter plane; that can include a car; but it does not include public transport. We will from this moment forward ensure that no other individual who is being monitored for exposure undergoes travel in any way other than controlled movement.”
The plane was used for five additional flights before it was taken out of service.
The second nurse infected with Ebola after treating Thomas Eric Duncan has been taken to Emory University in Atlanta to be placed in isolation.
The Centers for Disease Control confirmed they have flown Amber Vinson to Emory University Hospital because the hospital has successfully treated two other Ebola patients, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol.
“She was rapidly isolated, tested, and the presumptive test was positive. Fellow nurse Nina Pham, who is improving, will remain at Texas Health Presbyterian,” CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said.
Dr. Frieden said that while ill, Vinson is clinically “stable”.
Texas Governor Rick Perry praised the doctors and those treating the victims.
“This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this,” Perry said. “Everyone is working on this challenge — from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public officials addressing containment of the infection — is working to end the threat posed by this disease. These individuals are keeping the health and safety of Texans and the needs of the patients as their most critical tasks. Every relevant agency at the local, state and national levels is working to support these individuals.”
A second nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan has Ebola.
The Centers for Disease Control says that not only does Amber Vinson, 26, have the virus, but that she also traveled on an airplane Monday just before she reported having symptoms.
Vinson had been monitoring herself after treating Duncan and self-reported a fever Tuesday morning. She was immediately placed into isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.
She is the second of 77 healthcare workers who have been self-monitoring to watch for signs of Ebola.
The CDC says that Vinson lived alone and had no pets. Her home is being sanitized along with all her furniture, bedding and clothing incinerated.
The first nurse to show infection, Nina Pham, worked a different shift than Vinson and the two reportedly had no contact.
Dr. Kent Brantly, the Christian doctor who was one of the first Americans to be infected with Ebola during the current outbreak, says that conditions in Africa are worse than you see on television.
You’ve seen the news reports, and I can assure you, the reality on the ground in West Africa is worse than the worst report you’ve seen. And our attention and our efforts need to be on loving the people there,” he said.
“Let’s stop talking about that highly improbable thing [of an outbreak in America] and focus on saving people’s lives and stopping the outbreak where it is. God saved my life… He used some incredible people and unbelievable circumstances to do that … I want to live in that reality forever.”
Dr. Brantly called the attention being paid to Ebola possibly breaking out in the United States “panic.”
“I just want to tell everyone that yes, Ebola is a serious devastating disease and for those number of people who have been identified as contacts of an Ebola patient, they need to be monitoring themselves, they need to be cooperating with the authorities, with the CDC, and it’s very serious for them, but for the rest of us we don’t need to be worried,” Dr. Brantly said.
“I am particularly thrilled to be alive,” Brantly added.
A nurse who treated the Liberian who arrived in Texas infected with Ebola has been confirmed to be infected with the virus.
“A health care worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the Ebola patient hospitalized there has tested positive for Ebola in a preliminary test at the state public health laboratory in Austin,” reads a statement issued Sunday morning by the Texas Department of State Health Services. “Confirmatory testing will be conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.”
The head of state health services said he was not surprised to see someone else become infected with the virus.
“We knew a second case could be a reality, and we’ve been preparing for this possibility,” said Dr. David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services. “We are broadening our team in Dallas and working with extreme diligence to prevent further spread.”
The CDC was quick to claim the infection had to be a mistake on the part of the nurse, despite having no evidence to back up that claim.
The Liberian man who fell ill with Ebola while in the Dallas area is dead.
Thomas Eric Duncan died Wednesday morning at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. He had been in critical condition for days and rumors had been rampant for days that Duncan was on the verge of death.
Duncan’s family is still in isolation and is being monitored by health officials for any Ebola symptoms. Several others who had close contact with Duncan have been taken to a secret secured location. The Centers for Disease Control says no one has shown signs of Ebola.
The family confirmed that they had received confirmation of Duncan’s death.
CNN is reporting that airports within the United States are now going to take temperatures of passengers arriving from countries with Ebola infections.
The director of the CDC says that new travel guidelines are being developed for Americans.
The head of the Centers for Disease Control has admitted to reporters for the first time the possibility that Ebola could become an airborne virus.
Dr. Tom Frieden, however, sought to downplay the possibility.
“The rate of change [with Ebola] is slower than most viruses, and most viruses don’t change how they spread,” he said. “That is not to say it’s impossible that it could change [to become airborne.] That would be the worst-case scenario. We would know that by looking at … what is happening in Africa. That is why we have scientists from the CDC on the ground tracking that.”
Frieden pointed to evidence that there is very little proof of a human virus ever mutating to the point it transmits in an entirely different way.
“We have so many problems with Ebola, let’s not make another one that, of course, is theoretically possible but is pretty way down on the list of likely issues,” infectious diseases expert William Schaffner told Scientific American.
The man who brought Ebola into the United States could be facing prosecution in Liberia because he apparently lied on exit forms.
Thomas Eric Duncan told the Liberian Airport Authority “no” when he was asked if he has cared for anyone who had Ebola or touched the body of someone who had died from Ebola. Duncan had multiple contacts with a pregnant woman who died of the killer virus.
“The fact that he knew [he was exposed to Ebola] and he left the country is unpardonable, quite frankly,” Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told reporters. “I just hope that nobody else gets infected.”
“With the U.S. doing so much to help us fight Ebola, and again one of our compatriots didn’t take due care, and so, he’s gone there and … put some Americans in a state of fear, and put them at some risk,” she continued. “I feel very saddened by that and very angry with him, to tell you the truth.”
Duncan was not symptomatic when he came to the United States and fell ill days after he arrived in Texas.
The CDC has released a statement saying that Duncan was not symptomatic during his flights to the United States and that passengers on the flight were not at risk for Ebola. However, the airlines are reportedly contacting anyone who was on the flights for their own precautions.
The situation the President described as “unlikely” and officials at the CDC doubted would happen has come true.
The first American case of Ebola has been confirmed.
“We received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested them and they tested positive for Ebola,” Dr. Tom Frieden of the CDC said. “The State of Texas also operates a laboratory that found the same results.”
The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed that a Liberian man who came to the United States to visit relatives tested positive for the virus. He arrived in the U.S. on September 20th but did not show symptoms until four days later. He went to a hospital on Friday and was admitted on Sunday.
Dr. Frieden said that he is certain there will be no major outbreak.
“It does not spread from someone who doesn’t have fever and other symptoms,” Frieden outlined. “So, it’s only someone who is sick with Ebola who can spread the disease. I have no doubt that we will control or contain this case of Ebola so it does not spread throughout the country.”
