Dressed head to toe in a yellow hazmat suit, Dallas nurse Amber Vinson walked onto a jet at Love Field to be transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.(NBC5)
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is offering any health care workers who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan rooms to stay in so they can avoid exposing their family and friends and the public to the virus.
Employees will be housed in rooms in a separate part of the hospital throughout the monitoring period, spokesman Wendell Watson said in a statement. The precaution is not a medical recommendation but is for employees’ peace of mind.
“We want to remind potentially affected employees that they are not contagious unless and until they demonstrate any symptoms, yet we understand this is a frightening situation for them and their families,” Watson said. “We will be coordinating this effort with the county monitors who are already regularly checking on their temperatures for any sign of infection. The hospital will contact directly those being monitored to make arrangements.”
The hospital also asked that anyone who may be affected to be “good citizens” and avoid using public transportation or engaging in any other activities that could put others at risk.
Amber Joy Vinson arrives at Emory
The second Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola after treating a Liberian man who died from the virus last week has arrived at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, the hospital said Wednesday.
Amber Joy Vinson, 29, arrived about 7:30 p.m. after being transported by air ambulance from Dallas Love Field. She will be treated in the special isolation unit.
The move came amid rising criticism for the federal government’s response to the first three cases of deadly virus in the U.S.
“We know there are opportunities to do more and better,” Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell said, “and we’re doing that.”
Vinson was being transferred this afternoon to the university in Atlanta, where two American health-care workers who contracted the disease in West Africa were treated successfully earlier this year.
Mayor Mike Rawlings told CNN this afternoon that Vinson was in worse shape than fellow nurse Nina Pham. Pham was listed in good condition Wednesday after being hospitalized over the weekend.
“We know Nina’s in good condition,” the mayor said. “Folks have told me, second hand, that Nina’s doing better than our second patient.”
About 4 p.m. Wednesday, Vinson was taken by ground ambulance from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to a hangar at Love Field where a specially equipped jet waited to fly her to Atlanta.
Wearing a head-to-toe yellow hazmat suit, Vinson was wheeled out of the ambulance on a gurney but then walked up the stairs of the jet with help from four health-care workers in full-body protective suits.
The gray State Department jet, reportedly the same one that flew other health-care workers to Emory, then took off for Atlanta, where it was to be met by another special ambulance that will drive her to an isolation unit at the hospital.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention requested that Vinson be transferred to Emory, where three patients have already been treated, the hospital said in a statement.
Vinson will be treated in the same isolation unit as the other three patients. The first two were discharged in late August and a third patient is still being treated.
President Barack Obama assured the public that the situation was contained and asked Americans to keep the two nurses battling the disease in mind.
“I want everyone to be thinking of and praying for the two health-care workers,” the president said.
Obama said he understands that health-care workers and others in Dallas are scared, “and we’re going to make sure we’re on the ground 24/7″ to help them through this.
“We are reviewing every step of what’s happened,” he added. “We want a SWAT team, essentially, from CDC to be on the ground as soon as possible” when someone is diagnosed with Ebola.
The latest health-care worker to contract the virus at Presbyterian had direct contact with three people after becoming symptomatic before she was isolated, said Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those people are being closely monitored.
Ebola does not spread until a patient develops a fever or other symptoms, such as vomiting or diarrhea. Vinson didn’t develop a “low-grade fever” until Tuesday, a day after she flew back from her native Ohio to Dallas.
Because of that, Frieden said passengers on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 were at “extremely low risk” of being exposed. Even so, he said, the nurse should have been limited in her travel because she treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who became the nation’s first person diagnosed with the deadly virus.
“She should not have been on that plane,” Frieden said. “We will from this moment forward ensure that no other individual with exposure travels in anything other than a controlled manner.”
He also said that officials will be contacting all passengers and crew members on Monday’s flight from Cleveland to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport as a precaution.
“We encourage people to come forward at the slightest concern,” he said.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said officials are “eager to know” how Vinson was allowed to get on a plane despite the obvious risks.
But he reiterated that the risks are “quite low” that anyone on the plane with the Dallas nurse was in danger. He also said a ban on travel from West Africa is still “not on the table.”
Obama and Earnest took pains to say this is no “outbreak” and not likely to become one, but said it was “unacceptable that even one health-care worker was exposed to this virus.”
Earnest said the White House shared Frieden’s regrets that the federal government didn’t send more experts to Dallas sooner but that President Barack Obama remains confident in the CDC director.
Vinson was put into isolation within 90 minutes of reporting she had a fever. The CDC director said the nurse’s blood tested positive for the virus overnight in a state lab and should be confirmed today by the CDC. No one else had developed symptoms, he said, so no other blood tests were being performed.
Nina Pham, one of Duncan’s caregivers, was diagnosed with the disease Sunday. Duncan died Oct. 8; he was first admitted to the hospital on Sept. 28. Both Vinson and Pham had contact with Duncan when he was most contagious, suffering from extensive vomiting and diarrhea.
Medical records show that health care workers treating Duncan didn’t wear protective suits for the first two days of Duncan’s care – until tests confirmed he had Ebola.
Frieden said Pham’s condition was improving, so there was no plan Wednesday to move her from the North Dallas hospital where she contracted the virus. But he noted that could change should her condition worsen or others fall ill.
“This situation can change from minute to minute and hour to hour,” he said.
New patient handling diagnosis
Vinson is handling the situation with “grit, grace and determination,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins at a press conference Wednesday morning.
“Like Nina Pham, she is a heroic person – a person who has dedicated her life to helping others,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins at a press conference Wednesday morning.
Vinson traveled to Cleveland on Friday to visit her mother and fiance in preparation for her wedding. She returned to Dallas on Monday.
Vinson’s father, Ronald Shuler, declined to comment Wednesday morning about her diagnosis but said they will make a statement later in the day.
Cleaning crews have decontaminated the plane Vinson took back to Dallas twice, and it will return to service today. The nurse’s family is also being monitored, though it was unclear whether they were among her three contacts that the CDC was most concerned about.
In Cleveland, officials held a news conference to assure the public there that no suspicious cases have been reported.
“There have been no cases identified in the city of Cleveland,” Mayor Frank Jackson said.
But the city’s public health director, Toinette Parrilla, said an emergency command center was activated to educate the public about the disease and how it’s spread. “We’re making sure our public is safe.”
Vinson graduated from Firestone High School in Akron in 2003, according to Akron Public Schools. She received a bachelor’s degree in science from Kent State University in 2006. She received another degree from the college’s nursing school in 2008, according to online records.
Kent State officials confirmed that Vinson is related to three university employees. They have been asked to stay off campus for 21 days and monitor for symptoms. Vinson visited over the weekend but didn’t go onto the university campus.
“She stayed with her family at their home in Summit County and did not step foot on our campus. We want to assure our university community that we are taking this information seriously, taking steps to communicate what we know,” said Kent State President Beverly Warren in a written statement.
Vinson has been a registered nurse in Texas since 2012.
While Vinson was caring for Duncan in the days before his death, she inserted catheters, drew blood and dealt with Duncan’s bodily fluids, according to medical records provided to The Associated Press by Thomas Eric Duncan’s family.
City officials said Vinson lives alone and has no pets. Her apartment and car will be decontaminated. Dallas ISD officials have confirmed that the new patient does not have any children who attend schools in the district.
Other healthcare workers monitored
In addition to Vinson and Pham, there are 75 other hospital workers being monitored for symptoms of Ebola. Officials said they expect to see more Ebola cases.
“It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings at an early morning press conference.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas is equipped to care for three Ebola patients in isolation, said Dr. Daniel Varga, chief clinical officer and senior vice president of the hospital’s parent company, Texas Health Resources.
He called the second Ebola infection of a hospital worker “an unprecedented crisis.”
“The health and safety of our employees remain a high priority,” he said. He declined to comment on allegations by a nurse’s union that Presbyterian was unprepared for the first Ebola patient, which put nurses at risk of infection.
Hospital officials still don’t know how the two hospital workers contracted the virus.
“There was an exposure somewhere, some time during the treatment of Mr. Duncan,” Varga said. “I don’t think we have a symptomatic, institutional problem.”
Officials are working to identify anyone who might have come into contact with Vinson.
“Health officials have interviewed the latest patient to quickly identify any contacts or potential exposures, and those people will be monitored,” health department spokeswoman Carrie Williams said in a written statement. “The type of monitoring depends on the nature of their interactions and the potential they were exposed to the virus.”
Officials continue to monitor family members and friends who came into contact with Duncan before he was admitted to the hospital last month. None of those people, including five DISD students, have exhibited any signs or symptoms of the Ebola virus. Symptoms are typically seen within 21 days of exposure. That period of time ends Sunday.
Nurse’s apartment decontaminated
Dallas police and Dallas Fire-Rescue personnel were distributing fliers to residents of the Bend East section of The Village apartment complex to alert them to the latest Ebola case. A hazardous-materials team worked to decontaminate common areas of the apartment complex early Wednesday.
Protect Environmental, a North Texas-based business specializing in decontamination, is cleaning Vinson’s apartment. A woman who picked up the company’s phone said the company has been contracted by the state to decontaminate Vinson’s apartment.
The employee declined to give details on the clean up, saying the company has been told to direct media inquiries to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Workers wearing hazardous materials suits were cleaning Vinson’s apartment much of the day. They put up a black tarp near the apartment and appeared to be using barrels to contain the waste.
Officials have also made reverse 911 calls to residents in the area and knocked on doors to alert them to the case.
“The only way we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail,” Rawlings said.
Officials reiterated during an early morning press conference that people cannot contract Ebola unless they come into direct contact with someone who is experiencing Ebola symptoms.
“We want to deal with facts and not fear,” Rawlings said.
Residents at The Village apartments expressed concern for Vinson after hearing the news.
Lindsay London, who has lived at The Village apartments for four years, woke up around 5 a.m. to Dallas police officers knocking on her door. She said she realized that one of her neighbors had been diagnosed with Ebola and initially worried about how close the case is to her home.
“But after that initial panic, it was like all right. This isn’t a crazy outbreak yet. It’s close to home, so I need to be careful. But it’s not going to prevent me from going to work or anything like that,” London said.
One resident who lives near the apartment says he received a text from his complex that said, “A healthcare worker who lives at The Bend East in The Village has been diagnosed with Ebola. The resident is now under care offsite, and the apartment where she lived will be processed and cleaned. There are no immediate issues for residents. We’ll keep you informed of future developments.”
Though many residents told reporters Wednesday morning that they weren’t afraid they would contract the Ebola virus in the apartment complex, some said they were concerned about community areas.
“I’m afraid, to be honest,” said Fred Lane. He said if someone who works at the hospital has been using the apartment gym, he won’t use it.
Gov. Rick Perry called the Ebola virus “a formidable foe” Wednesday after news broke that a second nurse has been diagnosed with the disease.
“This is the first time that our nation has had to deal with a threat such as this,” Perry said in a written statement.
“Everyone working on this challenge – from the medical professionals at the bedside to the public health officials addressing containment of the infection – is working to end the threat posed by this disease. These individuals are keeping the health and safety of Texans and the needs of the patients as their most critical tasks. Every relevant agency at the local, state and national levels is working to support these individuals.”
Statement from Emory patient
The hospital in Atlanta is currently treating a patient who arrived there Sept. 9. The patient, who has not been publicly identified, released a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Given the national focus on Ebola, particularly with the diagnosis in two health care workers, I want to share the news that I am recovering from this disease, and that I anticipate being discharged very soon, free from the Ebola virus and able to return safely to my family and to my community,” the patient said.
“As a result of the virus, my condition worsened and I became critically ill soon after I arrived at Emory. Through rigorous medical treatment, skillful nursing, and the full support of a healthcare team, I am well on the way to a full recovery. I want the public to know that although Ebola is a serious, complex disease, it is possible to recover and return to a healthy life. I wish to retain my anonymity for now, but I anticipate sharing more information in future weeks as I complete my recovery.”
Staff writers Sherry Jacobson, Claire Z. Cardona, Tristan Hallman, Tasha Tsiaperas, Naheed Rajwani, Matt Peterson, Robert Wilonsky, Matthew Haag and Taylor Danser contributed to this report.
U.S. public health response to Ebola