Amber Vinson Transported to Emory University Hospital
11:33am EDT
By Terry Wade
DALLAS (Reuters) - Several schools were closed and six airline crew members placed on leave Thursday following news a nurse with Ebola had taken a commercial flight, heightening anxiety over the spread of the virus and how authorities were handling the health emergency.
In Washington, federal health officials will be questioned by lawmakers at a congressional hearing into their response to the Ebola outbreak, a virus that has killed more than 4,400 people in West Africa and appeared on U.S. soil last month.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, was scheduled to testify before a House of Representatives committee, a day after news emerged that a nurse who had treated an Ebola patient had flown from Ohio to Texas.
The nurse, Amber Vinson, 29, had a slight fever when she took the Frontier Airlines flight Monday, a day before she was diagnosed with Ebola. Frieden said Wednesday Vinson should not have flown, but a federal official later said she had contacted the CDC and was not prevented from boarding.
Frieden, who said last month he had "no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States," will likely face a grilling from members of Congress over how two U.S. health care workers became infected and one boarded a flight with 132 other passengers after being exposed to the virus.
At least one lawmaker has called for Frieden's resignation and others, including House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, urged travel restrictions on the countries hardest hit by Ebola.
Vinson was the second nurse at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to become infected after exposure to Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, who died on Oct. 8.
Another nurse, Nina Pham, 26, was diagnosed over the weekend and was being treated at the Dallas hospital, but the infections have raised concerns about how the facility handled the disease.
Rising public anxiety over the virus prompted President Barack Obama to cancel two days of political events just weeks before Nov. 4 congressional elections that will help shape the remainder of his term.
In Ohio, where Vinson had visited family members, two schools in the Cleveland suburb of Solon were closed Thursday because an employee may have traveled on the same plane as Vinson, though on a different flight.
The Ohio health department said the CDC was sending staff to help coordinate efforts to contain the spread of Ebola.
Frontier Airlines said it had placed six crew members on paid leave for 21 days "out of an abundance of caution." Florida Governor Rick Scott asked the CDC to expand the reach of its contacts to people who flew on the same plane after nurse Amber Vinson’s flight. The plane made a stop in Fort Lauderdale after Dallas.
Back in Texas, the Belton school district in central Texas said three schools were closed Thursday because two students were on the same flight as a nurse infected with Ebola.
BLAME
A representative from Texas Health Presbyterian was also scheduled to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday.
The hospital has come under criticism after initially sending Duncan home last month, only to have him return with far worse symptoms days later. A nurses group criticized hospital protocols and procedures on Ebola after Duncan was admitted on Sept. 28.
Dallas' chief political officer, County Judge Clay Jenkins, put the blame Thursday for Vinson's travel squarely on the CDC, saying hospital workers are heroes who don't want to put anyone at risk.
"These aren't people that want to break the protocol. They just need to know what the protocols are," told MSNBC. On Vinson, he added, "The protocols weren't given to the hospital to give them to her."
Vinson was moved to Emory from Texas Health Presbyterian on Wednesday night to keep the Dallas facility ready for future cases of the virus, he said.
Frieden said it was unlikely passengers who flew with Vinson were infected because the nurse had not vomited or bled on the flight, but he said she should not have boarded the plane.
The virus, which also causes fever and diarrhea, is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person.
A federal official said Wednesday Vinson had told the CDC her temperature was 99.5 Fahrenheit (37.5 Celsius), but "was not told not to fly" because that was below the CDC's temperature threshold of 100.4F (38C).
One nurse who helped treat Pham came forward Thursday to say the Dallas hospital was unprepared for the emergency and lacked proper protective gear.
Nurses were not briefed or prepared for Ebola, Briana Aguirre told NBC's "Today" show, and no special precautions were taken when Duncan was admitted to the hospital.
"It was a total chaotic scene," she said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Colleen Jenkins in North Carolina; Writing by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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| Ambulance transporting Amber Vinson to Emory University Hospital. |
By Terry Wade
DALLAS (Reuters) - Several schools were closed and six airline crew members placed on leave Thursday following news a nurse with Ebola had taken a commercial flight, heightening anxiety over the spread of the virus and how authorities were handling the health emergency.
In Washington, federal health officials will be questioned by lawmakers at a congressional hearing into their response to the Ebola outbreak, a virus that has killed more than 4,400 people in West Africa and appeared on U.S. soil last month.
Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, was scheduled to testify before a House of Representatives committee, a day after news emerged that a nurse who had treated an Ebola patient had flown from Ohio to Texas.
The nurse, Amber Vinson, 29, had a slight fever when she took the Frontier Airlines flight Monday, a day before she was diagnosed with Ebola. Frieden said Wednesday Vinson should not have flown, but a federal official later said she had contacted the CDC and was not prevented from boarding.
Frieden, who said last month he had "no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the United States," will likely face a grilling from members of Congress over how two U.S. health care workers became infected and one boarded a flight with 132 other passengers after being exposed to the virus.
At least one lawmaker has called for Frieden's resignation and others, including House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, urged travel restrictions on the countries hardest hit by Ebola.
Vinson was the second nurse at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to become infected after exposure to Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, who died on Oct. 8.
Another nurse, Nina Pham, 26, was diagnosed over the weekend and was being treated at the Dallas hospital, but the infections have raised concerns about how the facility handled the disease.
Rising public anxiety over the virus prompted President Barack Obama to cancel two days of political events just weeks before Nov. 4 congressional elections that will help shape the remainder of his term.
In Ohio, where Vinson had visited family members, two schools in the Cleveland suburb of Solon were closed Thursday because an employee may have traveled on the same plane as Vinson, though on a different flight.
The Ohio health department said the CDC was sending staff to help coordinate efforts to contain the spread of Ebola.
Frontier Airlines said it had placed six crew members on paid leave for 21 days "out of an abundance of caution." Florida Governor Rick Scott asked the CDC to expand the reach of its contacts to people who flew on the same plane after nurse Amber Vinson’s flight. The plane made a stop in Fort Lauderdale after Dallas.
Back in Texas, the Belton school district in central Texas said three schools were closed Thursday because two students were on the same flight as a nurse infected with Ebola.
BLAME
A representative from Texas Health Presbyterian was also scheduled to testify before the Energy and Commerce Committee on Thursday.
The hospital has come under criticism after initially sending Duncan home last month, only to have him return with far worse symptoms days later. A nurses group criticized hospital protocols and procedures on Ebola after Duncan was admitted on Sept. 28.
Dallas' chief political officer, County Judge Clay Jenkins, put the blame Thursday for Vinson's travel squarely on the CDC, saying hospital workers are heroes who don't want to put anyone at risk.
"These aren't people that want to break the protocol. They just need to know what the protocols are," told MSNBC. On Vinson, he added, "The protocols weren't given to the hospital to give them to her."
Vinson was moved to Emory from Texas Health Presbyterian on Wednesday night to keep the Dallas facility ready for future cases of the virus, he said.
Frieden said it was unlikely passengers who flew with Vinson were infected because the nurse had not vomited or bled on the flight, but he said she should not have boarded the plane.
The virus, which also causes fever and diarrhea, is spread through direct contact with body fluids from an infected person.
A federal official said Wednesday Vinson had told the CDC her temperature was 99.5 Fahrenheit (37.5 Celsius), but "was not told not to fly" because that was below the CDC's temperature threshold of 100.4F (38C).
One nurse who helped treat Pham came forward Thursday to say the Dallas hospital was unprepared for the emergency and lacked proper protective gear.
Nurses were not briefed or prepared for Ebola, Briana Aguirre told NBC's "Today" show, and no special precautions were taken when Duncan was admitted to the hospital.
"It was a total chaotic scene," she said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington; Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Colleen Jenkins in North Carolina; Writing by Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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