Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, left, speaks as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings, center, and Director of Dallas County Health and Human Services Zachary Thompson look on during a news conference Monday, Oct. 20, 2014, in Dallas. Ebola fears began to ease for some Monday as a monitoring period passed for those who had close contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, a victim of the disease, and after a cruise ship scare ended with the boat returning to port and a lab worker on board testing negative for the virus. (AP Photo )
Update, 7:30 p.m.: The state says 51 people have now completed monitoring.
Update, 2 p.m.: Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas announced Monday that it has begun accepting ambulances at its emergency room again. The hospital was diverting the emergency calls to other hospitals as it dealt with Ebola cases, including two infected nurses.
The emergency room is now fully operational, the hospital said. Here’s its full statement:
At noon today, the emergency department at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, with the support of Texas Department of State Health Services Director David Lakey, came off diversion for ambulance traffic, returning it to full operation. The emergency department had remained open for patients not arriving by ambulance.
Original: Local leaders celebrated the end of Ebola monitoring for 43 people Monday, but said 120 others in North Texas are still being watched for signs of the deadly virus.
Monitoring will continue until the “magic date” of Nov. 7, Mayor Mike Rawlings said during a morning press conference.
“Today is a milestone day — a hurdle we needed to clear,” Rawlings said. But “there are other hurdles we need to jump.”
The people being released from monitoring are mostly contacts of Dallas’ first patient, Thomas Eric Duncan. The ones that remain are health care workers who treated Duncan or treated the two nurses who contracted the virus from him.
Duncan’s fiance Louise Troh is among the people who have been released. She and Duncan had planned to get married before he died of the virus, and Duncan had stayed in her apartment for days while showing symptoms of Ebola.
Troh and other family members had been moved from her Vickery Meadow apartment to a Catholic church retreat in Oak Cliff to wait and see if they contracted the illness.
Troh and others who came into contact with Duncan had been taking their temperatures at least twice per day. Local health department workers visited them regularly to check for symptoms. Those with the most exposure were told not to leave their homes.
Eight school-aged children are also emerging from isolation. Five of those attended Dallas schools prior to isolation, while three attended the Richardson school district’s Wallace Elementary. The Richardson students will be transferring to a Dallas school. All eight of the kids will be back to class by Tuesday, officials said.
“We are glad they are back in school,” said DISD Superintendent Mike Miles. “That is where kids belong.”
Monday’s press conference had a celebratory tone. Duncan wasn’t immediately hospitalized, so there was worry that his contacts could have fallen ill. Now, it appears that no members of the general public contracted the virus. The two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, are the only others who have gotten sick.
“We are breathing a little easier, ” Rawlings said, “but we are still holding our breath a fair amount until Nov. 7.”
Gov. Rick Perry also celebrated the news in a press release.
“With guarded optimism we welcome the news that 43 Texans have been removed from active monitoring for Ebola,” he said. “Continuous vigilance in confronting this threat and the cooperation of those affected is what has brought us to this point, and we look forward to the day when the remaining individuals can also be removed from active monitoring.”
Meanwhile, officials urged the public to be respectful of the people leaving monitoring. They do not have the virus, so they are not at risk of transmitting it to other people. They have been through a difficult time, officials said.
Troh’s pastor, George Mason of Wilshire Baptist Church, said Troh and her family are “jubilant” about returning to the community. The time in isolation has been difficult — and boring, he said.
“They are tired of twiddling their thumbs,” Mason said.