North Texas

Safety, Costs for New Ebola Patients a Concern

Dallas County leaders on Tuesday voiced concerns about the cost and safety of future response to the Ebola virus.

County Commissioner Elba Garcia, who is a dentist, said she is concerned that paramedics who may be called to transport an Ebola patient will receive no warning to prepare the proper protective equipment.

“Should they have the information of the people we are tracking, is there a protocol?” Garcia asked.

More than 70 health care workers who had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan have been identified along with 48 people who may have had contact with him before he was admitted to isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.

Duncan died at the hospital Oct. 8.

Nurse Nina Pham and a second health care worker are currently receiving care at Presbyterian, having contracted the disease presumably while caring for Duncan.

Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez said the names and addresses of possible contacts are being kept secret, but the information is available to emergency responders.

“As soon as there’s an ambulance call, that address is automatically sent to someone who is monitoring that and they will answer 'yea' or 'nay,'” Valdez said.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said new patients with Ebola symptoms will also be directed to Presbyterian Hospital because new support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with resources already assembled there, make Presbyterian the best choice for Ebola care in North Texas.

“That is our place where we have prepared the team, where we have the team focused to beat Ebola and I want the people to go there. There is as secondary concern because of public misinformation and panic,” Jenkins said.

Other hospitals have reported longer patient wait times because patients are choosing to avoid Presbyterian, Jenkins said.

The county judge is also the county emergency management chief in Texas, and so Jenkins has been supervising the Ebola response which includes decontaminating the homes of patients, locating possible patient contacts and much more.

At Tuesday’s Commissioners Court meeting, County Health Director Zachary Thompson said his department will need more resources to deal with the ongoing Ebola threat.

“There are going to be additional epidemiologists that we need to bring on board, health educators that we need to bring on board,” he said.

Thompson is also seeking approval from the CDC to conduct Ebola tests in the Dallas County Health Department lab to save the time and trouble of taking the samples to an Austin state lab.

“If they’re calling this ground zero, we should have that ability to do the testing,” Thompson said.

The cost of Ebola response thus far is still being tallied by state officials, but County Commissioner John Wiley Price said it is clearly a large figure.

“The invoices that I have requested, we’re way north of a million dollars,” Price said. “I know folks say at the end of the day, it’s not about not money. Well, it’s got to come from somewhere.”

Jenkins said government support has been promised, and it is too soon to worry about money while the urgent response is still underway.

“We’re dealing with uncharted territory that we’re involved in,” Thompson said.

But the health director did provide good news Tuesday. None of the original 48 possible contacts with Duncan are showing symptoms with just five days left in their 21 day observation period.

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