2nd health care worker tests positive for Ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian, will be transferred to Emory University (Video)

A second health care worker has tested positive for the Ebola virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas in what Dr. Daniel Varga, Texas Health Resource's chief clinical officer, is calling "an unprecedented crisis."

The worker has been identified as 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson and was one of the staff that treated Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died Oct. 8 from the virus at the hospital. Vinson's apartment at the Bend East at The Village Apartments is currently being decontaminated. Neighboring residents received text messages and reverse 911 calls explaining what is happening.

Rawlings said it was "another long evening and morning for many, many people."

"The only way that we are going to beat this is person by person, moment by moment, detail by detail," he said.

“We want to minimize rumors and maximize facts," Rawlings added. "We want to deal with facts not fears ... It may get worse before it gets better, but it will get better.”

Rawlings said that Protect Environmental had been hired to finish the apartment cleaning, possibly by Wednesday afternoon.

The Texas Department of State Health Services announced overnight that Vinson reported a fever Tuesday and was immediately isolated at the Dallas hospital. The confirmation was made at a lab in Austin and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta also is conducting a test.

“An additional health-care worker testing positive for Ebola is a serious concern, and the CDC has already taken active steps to minimize the risk to health-care workers and the patient," the CDC said in a statement. “The CDC and the Texas Department of State Health Services remain confident that wider spread in the community can be prevented with proper public health measures.”

Lance Murray edits and writes for the DBJ's website and can be reached at 214-706-7106. Subscribe to our email newsletters.

Korri covers banking, finance and nonprofits for the Dallas Business Journal. Subscribe to our email newsletters.