Virus Crisis
Number of people in Dallas being monitored for Ebola climbs to 80
Eighty people in the Dallas area are now being monitored for Ebola, as health officials widen the circle of people who may have been exposed to the virus after indirect contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola patient in the U.S.
Duncan had direct contact with up to 18 people, including five schoolchildren. Those 18 people came into contact with up to 80 people, according to Dallas County Health and Human Services spokeswoman Erikka Neroes. None of those people are showing symptoms.
In a press conference on October 1, Gov. Rick Perry said that the five children, who attend four different schools — two elementary schools, a middle school and a high school — were being monitored at home for a period of 21 days.
Duncan, who remains in serious but stable condition at Texas Presbyterian Hospital, was screened by a nurse who asked about his symptoms and travel history, but that information wasn't conveyed to others at the hospital.
Duncan was staying with his sister and several young children at the Ivy Apartments in North Dallas. His family has been ordered not to leave home or have contact with outsiders for 21 days without approval of the local or state health department.
In a press conference on the afternoon of October 2, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings asked members of the media to "be professional," cautioning them not to create a difficult situation for the CDC, who still hadn't cleaned the apartment where Duncan was staying. Dallas ISD superintendent Mike Miles said that the schools where the students had been were cleaned.
