Now that the Ebola virus has been confirmed in a patient in Dallas, ten experts from the Centers for Disease Control are in North Texas.
Their goal is to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. That begins with visiting family members at the apartment the patient was staying at in Dallas.
“Every day they’ll be checked, their temperatures, they’ll be asked about symptoms and they’ll continue questioning them about who they might have had contact with,” explained Dave Daigle with the CDC.
The team will work with State and Dallas County health leaders to stop the spread.
A travel expert is looking at Duncan's flight path to determine if fellow passengers need to be contacted. He flew more than 9,000 miles starting in Monrovia, Liberia with stops in Brussels and Washington. According to United Airlines, He flew from Brussels to Washington Dulles on Flight 951 on Sept. 20. Three hours later he flew from Washington Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth on Flight 822.
“That's something we're prepared to work on or do, because we've added that capability to the team,” said Daigle.
The CDC will check in with neighbors, if they determine the patient came in close contact with folks at the apartment complex. The team will not sanitize the apartment he was visiting, but just provide recommendations on keeping it clean.
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Diagle says CDC members are also working with the Dallas Independent School District in light of the news that the man had come in contact with five school-aged children from four Dallas schools.
“Sometimes children have the symptoms they may not know. It probably makes more sense to keep them at home, rather than have them to go to school with symptoms they don’t even recognize. So, I think there's going to be an effort to involve them in home-schooling,” Daigle said.
The amount of people being monitored by health experts could grow.
Right now, there’s not a timetable as to how long the team will be in Dallas. NBC 5 has been told they will stay as long as they are needed.
