A running report on news from across the country relating to the Ebola outbreak.
Travel restrictions placed on Dallas hospital workers
Texas Health Commission David Lakey today announced that health care workers who entered the room of Ebola "index patient" Thomas Eric Duncan are now under restrictions on travel and health monitoring. The move comes nine days after Duncan died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.
According to a document obtained by the New York Times, no one who entered the Duncan's room may travel by commercial transportation -- airplane, ship, long-distance bus or train -- until 21 days after that person's last exposure. Local use of public transportation (taxi, bus) by these individuals should be discussed with the public health authority.
In addition, anyone involved in Duncan's direct care "must be monitored twice a day with one of the monitoring sessions being a face to face encounter. As part of that monitoring, each temperature will be checked twice a day."
A third condition is that health care workers who entered Duncan's room may not "go to any location where members of the public congregate, which includes but is not limited to restaurants, grocery stores, theaters or other places."
Obama appoints Ebola 'czar'
President Obama today appointed Ron Klain to be his "Ebola czar" -- the federal official who will devote his full attention to the U.S. response to the Ebola outbreak.
Klain is a former chief of staff to two Democratic vice presidents -- Joe Biden and Al Gore -- and is now president of a private investment group.
Obama met Thursday evening with several top aides working on Ebola, including CDC Director Tom Frieden. Afterward, the president told reporters that the officials are doing a good job but that they are also responsible for national security and other health care issues unrelated to Ebola.
“It may be appropriate for me to appoint an additional person, not because they haven’t been doing an outstanding job, really working hard on this issue, but they are also responsible for a whole bunch of other stuff,” Obama said.
He said an "Ebola czar" would help “just to make sure that we are crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s going forward.”
Dallas hospital worker isolated on cruise ship
An employee of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has been isolated aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean, the U.S. State Department said, and Belize media are reporting that the Belize Coast Guard won't let the ship or any of its passengers into port.
The Washington Post reports that the worker "may have" handled lab specimens from Ebola "index patient" Thomas Eric Duncan. The person, who is not displaying any symptoms, boarded the ship Oct. 12, before the CDC recommended "active monitoring" of hospital workers thought to have been exposed to the virus.
The State Department said it is working with the cruise line to turn the ship back to the United States "out of an abundance of caution."
Hartsfield-Jackson screenings begin
At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, U.S Customs and Border Protection with assistance from the Coast Guard is now screening passengers coming from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone for Ebola. The process involves taking the temperature of those passengers with a non-contact thermometer.
The Atlanta airport is one of five major international airports where the screening of those passengers started Thursday. During the screening, the passenger is isolated from the traveling public, fills out a questionnaire and contact information form, and has their temperature taken. If the traveler has a fever or may have been exposed to Ebola, the agency refers the traveler to the Centers for Disease Control. CDC determines if the traveler can continue their travel, or instead taken to a hospital for further evaluation or referred to a local health department for monitoring.
About 150 people come to the United States from the three Ebola-affected countries a day, with an average of about five daily coming to Hartsfield-Jackson.
'There will not be a large outbreak in the U.S.'
CDC Director Tom Frieden and other public health leaders on Thursday got an earful from a House subcommittee investigating the nation's response to Ebola.
“Errors in judgment have been made,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, a Republican from Pennsylvania. “We have been told, ‘Virtually any hospital in the country that can do isolation can do isolation for Ebola.’ The events in Dallas have proven otherwise.”
Frieden offered assurances that the U.S. will not suffer a widespread outbreak of the disease.
"There's zero doubt in my mind that barring a mutation which changes it —which we don't think is likely — there will not be a large outbreak in the U.S.," he said. "We know how to control Ebola, even in this period."
Two students home from Liberia barred from school
DeKalb County schools barred two students from enrolling at schools in Dunwoody this week because the two spent time in Liberia with their father, who works for CARE.
Both students are symptom-free and waited the requisite 21 days before trying to enroll in school. But the district so far has turned them away and, on Thursday, announced a new policy by which no new students from Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and other West African nations affected by Ebola can attend classes in DeKalb.
First Dallas nurse to be moved to Maryland
Nina Pham, the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nurse who contracted Ebola after treating the now-deceased Thomas E. Duncan, will be flown from the Dallas facility to a special federal unit in Maryland today, Dr. Anthony Fauci told a House subcommittee today. Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Pham, 26, would be moved later today.
Nurse Amber Vinson, 29, was transported to Emory University Hospital Wednesday night, which leaves no active Ebola cases at the Dallas hospital. Texas Health Presbyterian spokesman Wendell Watson said Pham's move is necessary because numerous employees are being monitored for symptoms of the virus and aren't available to work.
"With so many of the medical professionals who normally staff our intensive care unit sidelined for the continuous monitoring, we felt it was in the best interest of the hospital's employees, the nurses, the physicians, the community, to give the hospital an opportunity to prepare for tomorrow ... for whatever comes next," Watson said.
The Bethesda, Md., unit, operated by the National Institutes of Health, is comparable to the special isolation unit at Emory, and a third such unit in Nebraska. A fourth special facility, in Missoula, Mont., is not yet ready to take an Ebola patient and does not know when it will be, a spokeswoman told the AJC Wednesday night.
Dallas hospital: ‘We are deeply sorry’
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is apologizing for blowing the diagnosis of Ebola patient Thomas Duncan and sending him home.
“It’s hard for me to put into words how we felt when our patient Thomas Eric Duncan lost his struggle with Ebola on Oct. 8,” said Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer for Texas Health Services, in testimony prepared for a House subcommittee hearing today. “It was devastating to the nurses, doctors, and team who tried so hard to save his life. We keep his family in our thoughts and prayers.
“Unfortunately, in our initial treatment of Mr. Duncan, despite our best intentions and a highly skilled medical team, we made mistakes. We did not correctly diagnose his symptoms as those of Ebola. We are deeply sorry.”
Two of the hospitals nurses have since contracted the Ebola virus, one of whom was flown to Emory University Hospital for treatment Wednesday night.
Travel ban not in the cards, White House says
President Obama said his administration must respond in a "much more aggressive way" to the threat, but the president's spokesman said a ban on travel from the Ebola-stricken countries to the U.S. is not on the table.
U.S. Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, both Georgia Republicans, today called for restricted travel from West Africa to the U.S., but White House spokesman Josh Earnest said such a measure is not under consideration.
In a statement Thursday afternoon, Chambliss said, “Given the recent spread of Ebola in the United States, I share the deep concerns expressed by many Georgians about the risk this deadly virus poses to our public health. To contain this disease and help prevent any additional cases in our country, I support implementing travel restrictions from Ebola-affected nations."
‘Amber alert’ and the fallout: nurse sought permission to fly
The Dallas nurse who flew with a fever from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday – she was returning from a trip to Ohio to plan her wedding – told the CDC official monitoring her health that she had a slightly elevated temperature, 99.5, before she took the flight. But Amber Vinson was given clearance to board the plane, an agency spokesman told the Associated Press. Her fever was below the threshold of 100.4 degrees set by the agency and she had no symptoms, the AP said. It attributed the information to CDC spokesman David Daigle. The nurse had close contact with the now-deceased Ebola patient Thomas Duncan, inserting catheters, taking blood samples and disposing of bodily fluids, and became symptomatic herself this week.
What of the other people on the plane?
The CDC announced today that it's seeking to contact all of the people who flew with Amber Vinson on Monday. "CDC is asking all 132 passengers on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on October 13 (the flight route was Cleveland to Dallas Fort Worth and landed at 8:16 p.m. CT) to call 1 800-CDC INFO (1 800 232-4636). After 1 p.m. ET, public health professionals will begin interviewing passengers about the flight, answering their questions, and arranging follow up. Individuals who are determined to be at any potential risk will be actively monitored."
The agency said that, according to the flight crew, Vinson did not exhibit signs or symptoms of Ebola on the flight. And it said Frontier is working closely with CDC to identify and notify the passengers.
Meanwhile, Frontier said it was placing the two pilots and four flight attendants from the flight on paid leave, “out of an abundance of caution.” The airline said that, although the plane was properly cleaned after the Dallas flight, it took five more trips before Frontier was notified that it had been carrying an Ebola patient.
Schools close in two states
A handful of schools in Texas and Ohio closed today because some of their students were aboard the same plane. The New York Daily News began referring to the flight and its fallout as an “Amber alert.”
Passenger screening begins at Hartsfield-Jackson
People flying into Atlanta from Libera, Sierra Leone and Guinea -- roughly five travelers out of the nearly 250,000 who go through Hartsfield-Jackson every day -- will receive extra screening as of today.
At the Atlanta airport early today, passengers from Lagos, Nigeria, where the Centers for Disease Control says the Ebola outbreak has been contained, said they were screened before arriving at the Atlanta airport. Passengers reported having their temperature taken before departing and answering a questionnaire. The Lagos flight is the only direct route from West Africa to Atlanta; passengers coming from other countries typically connect in Europe.
Obama staying put to deal with Ebola
For the second straight day, President Obama has canceled planned travel to remain at the White and oversee the government’s handling of the Ebola outbreak, the New York Times reported this morning. The Times said Obama had canceled a fundraiser and rally on Wednesday.
Dallas hospital workers didn’t suit up
The Dallas Morning News reports today that hospital staff treating Thomas Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital did not wear protective hazmat-type suits for two days until the hospital got back test results saying that Duncan had an Ebola infection. Citing medical records it had obtained, the newspaper said the delay “potentially exposed perhaps dozens of hospital workers to the virus.”
‘Thanks for your bravery’
A cameraman who contracted Ebola in West Africa sent a message to the two Texas nurses wishing them a speedy recovery. Ashoka Mukpo, who is being treated at the Nebraska Medical Center, wrote on Twitter: “This thing is not easy but you’re both going to make it. Thanks for your bravery.” Mukpo was freelancing for NBC News when he became symptomatic.
