More than 100 monitoring for symptoms after potential contact with Dallas nurse with Ebola
More than 150 people are being monitored for Ebola because they might have come in contact with Amber Vinson, the second Texas nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating Thomas Duncan, the first Ebola death in the United States.
Initially, numbers fluctuated between 12, 16, 29 and 38 over the weekend.
The jump to more than 150 is due to the identification of passengers on the plane on which Vinson flew from Dallas to Cleveland and the identification of customers in Coming Attractions, the Akron bridal shop Vinson visited, where her bridesmaids were trying on dresses in preparation for her wedding, according to an Associated Press.
None of these people have been diagnosed with Ebola, and there are no cases of Ebola in Ohio.
Additionally, Vinson, 29, was never on Kent State’s campus.
The Summit County Public Health department released a press release Saturday stating 29 people have been in possible contact with the Ebola virus: 14 in Summit County, seven in Cuyahoga County, three in Medina County, two in Belmont County, two in Putnam County and one in Portage County.
According to the press release, each county’s local health department is monitoring these individuals.
While these numbers are no longer accurate, it’s an indication of where a number of these potential contacts are.
The number jumped from 29 Saturday to more than 150 Sunday afternoon, according to cleveland.com.
Seven people in Northeast Ohio voluntarily quarantined themselves because of contact with Vinson, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Five are in Summit County and two are in Cuyahoga County.
Frontier Airlines notified more than 800 passengers who flew on different flights on the plane on which Vinson flew, according to the Daily Mail.
Included are the flights on which Vinson flew, Frontier Flight 1142 from Dallas/Fort Worth to Cleveland on Oct. 10 and Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth on Monday.
Other potentially affected flights include Flight 2042 on Tuesday morning from Dallas to Cleveland, Flight 1104 on Tuesday afternoon from Cleveland to Fort Lauderdale, Flight 1105 on Tuesday afternoon from Fort Lauderdale to Cleveland, Flight 1101 on Tuesday night from Cleveland to Atlanta and Flight 1100 on Tuesday night from Atlanta to Cleveland.
All passengers on the seven flights are asked to call the CDC and monitor themselves for symptoms.
However, the chance of any of these passengers contracting Ebola is very low.
Vinson traveled from Dallas to Cleveland on Oct. 10 to visit with family, staying in Tallmadge with her mother, Debra Berry and her stepfather, Kelvin Berry, both of whom are Kent State employees.
Her mother is senior assistant to President Beverly Warren, and her stepfather is director of Economic Development and Corporate Partnership.
Her parents are two of three Kent State employees who have been asked to stay home from work for 21 days while they self-monitor for the virus.
Although she had a low-grade fever of 99.5 degrees in Ohio, the Centers for Disease Control allowed her to fly home because it was below the 100.4 degree reading for a fever.
She returned to Dallas on Oct. 13 and reportedly began to feel ill Tuesday. She was diagnosed Wednesday.
She was transferred from Dallas to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for treatment.
Ebola can only be spread through contact with bodily fluids of an infected person who is experiencing symptoms, which include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, coughing, stomach and chest pain, bruising and bleeding from eyes and other orifices, according to the Mayo Clinic’s website.
Nina Pham, another nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian hospital, was the first diagnosed with Ebola after caring for Thomas Duncan, a 42-year-old Liberian man visiting the U.S. who died from the disease Oct. 8.
Pham, 26, is being treated at a National Institutes of Health isolation unit in Bethesda, Maryland.
Contact Emily Mills at [email protected].