There's one more week of observation for the original 48 people identified as possible contacts with deceased Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan.
Duncan's fiancee and her family were considered to be among the most at risk for contracting the disease before Presbyterian Hospital nurse Nina Pham was confirmed to be an Ebola patient after caring for Duncan. Duncan died Oct. 8 at the hospital.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is overseeing the Dallas Ebola response, said he and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings are working on a new home for Duncan’s fiancee and her family.
Most of their possessions were destroyed in the decontamination of their apartment where Duncan had stayed before his hospitalization.
"We're at the tail end of their surveillance period. The risk of them contracting Ebola at this point is minuscule. But we've still got to go through the whole 21 days," Jenkins said.
The surveillance period ends Sunday and Jenkins said the three people in quarantine would be released Monday morning.
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Jenkins said the new apartment will not be at the Ivy Apartments where they had been before but would likely be in the same Vickery Meadow neighborhood.
Dallas County's Emergency Operations Center is receiving new support from a Texas Department of State Health Services "District Command" location to help improve Ebola response. Jenkins said it reduced the time to begin decontamination of Pham's Dallas apartment compared to the time it took to clean the apartment where Duncan stayed.
Ebola concerns are hurting Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas according to the County Judge.
"We're seeing ramifications of this Ebola scare in our other hospitals, and that's a concern that I have," Jenkins said. "It's taking too long to see people in the other hospitals because the flows are increasing."
Jenkins said Presbyterian is still the best place to care for Nina Pham, because she wants to be treated there and because new experts have arrived in Dallas to assist in her care.
Around 20 doctors with the Dallas County Medical Society are helping the Dallas County Health Department respond to public questions on a special Ebola hotline.
Dr. John Carlo with the Dallas County Medical Society said the doctors are still reassuring residents that direct contact with infected body fluid is required to contact Ebola.
"It has to be warm and wet really from somebody that is infected with Ebola, so really the risk to the general community is really, really low," Carlo said.
But now, Carlo said inquiries are also coming in from health care professionals wondering how Pham contracted the disease.
"What our physicians want to know today is, what happened? Potentially, where was there a potential break, so there is an opportunity to make sure those things don’t happen again," Carlo said.
The state and federal experts are also investigating those issues as Pham receives care.
