Disaster Declaration Planned for Ebola Fight

10/16/2014

Those who cared for Thomas Duncan ordered to restrict travel methods

Big changes are in the works for those health care workers who had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan. County officials are working on a plan to keep the workers from traveling, and the hospital is adding space for them to stay.

Dallas County Commissioners will hold a special meeting Thursday to declare a disaster over "the potential for widespread or severe damage, injury, loss or threat of life resulting from the Ebola virus."

The declaration could help officials impose new travel restrictions on health care workers who may have cared for the first Dallas Ebola patient, Thomas Eric Duncan.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Dallas County Medical Director Dr. Christopher Perkins will sign a control order that will follow the minimum guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, blocking those being monitored for Ebola symptoms from using public transportation, including buses and airliners.

It comes after revelations Wednesday that the third Dallas Ebola patient, Amber Vinson, a nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, returned from a trip to Ohio with a slight fever after caring for Duncan, who died at the hospital last week.

Disaster Declaration Planned for Ebola Fight

Dallas County Commissioners will hold a special meeting Thursday to declare a disaster over "the potential for widespread or severe damage, injury, loss or threat of life resulting from the Ebola virus."

The CDC now wants to contact and interview all 132 passengers who flew from Cleveland to Dallas with Vinson on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 Monday evening.

Vinson's infection was only revealed Wednesday morning as crews began decontaminating her Dallas apartment.

Vinson was transferred Wednesday evening to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta where other Ebola patients have been successfully treated.

She and Ebola patient Nina Pham, another nurse at Presbyterian Hospital, contracted the disease through some breach in illness protection at the hospital, according to hospital officials and investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Judge Clay Jenkins Creates Order to Restrict Travel of Ebola Health Care Workers

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins says he'll enact a legal order restricting the travel of health care workers who treated Ebola patient Thomas Duncan.

News of Pham's infection came Sunday, and she remains in isolation while receiving treatment at Presbyterian Hospital.

A total of 77 hospital workers may have had contact with Duncan, and CDC officials have acknowledged they could have provided more support at Presbyterian Hospital when Duncan's Ebola case was first revealed in late September.

Jenkins, who is overseeing the Ebola response in Dallas County, said neither Presbyterian Hospital nor the CDC instructed the workers to stay away from the public during the 21-day monitoring period for symptoms.

"No one told them, which is something that is profoundly disappointing to me, but this is something that we've got to fix quickly," Jenkins said. "We cannot have people on common carriers like DART trains, airplanes or buses who might get sick."

Ebola Patient Heads to Atlanta for Treatment

The control order would give the county legal authority to restrict the movement of those being monitored for the potentially deadly virus.

"If an order is in place I expect it to be followed and we'd use the law to enforce it, but that won't be necessary. These are heroic health care professionals who just need some guidance on what they can and can't do in a very difficult time in their life," Jenkins said.

Jenkins said he'll work with state officials to make sure the order can be enforced outside of Dallas County and that public venues may be included in the restriction.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, Texas Health Commissioner Dr. David Lakey and Jenkins all met Wednesday afternoon at Jenkins' office to discuss the situation.

Dallas Nurse with Ebola Transported to Atlanta

A Dallas nurse who has Ebola is being transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment.

Cornyn said he was visiting to learn firsthand about the problems Dallas is facing and offer support.

"I don't know if we've ever had anything like this happen before," Cornyn said. "One of the points the mayor and the judge said is the CDC is a world-class expert in terms of offering advice, but what you need is somebody who can operationally make things happen. And maybe we need a public health special operations force."

Rawlings was more blunt about the current life-and-death situation.

"Hey, look everybody, it's one team. And this team is not doing as well. The county, me as mayor, the Presbyterian, the CDC, the state, come on. We've got to do better than that," Rawlings said.

Passengers Exposed to Ebola Patient Frustrated

The Centers for Disease Control is working to track down passengers on Amber Vinson's flight back to DFW Airport from Cleveland. Vinson is a nurse who has been diagnosed with Ebola, after caring for Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

The special county commissioners meeting is set for 2 p.m. Thursday.

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