Possible Ebola Case In North Carolina, Now? UPDATE: Tests Negative

There’s good news and bad news on the Ebola front – first the good news: The Liberian woman who was hospitalized Friday in Milwaukie, OR over fears she has Ebola does not have the disease, according to health care officials.

“Based on test results and an evaluation of her clinical condition, I’m pleased to say there are no cases of Ebola in Oregon,” Dr. Paul Lewis, the tri-county health officer, said in a news release from Providence Health & Services. “The CDC has advised us that no further testing is required.”

The woman had been monitored at Providence Milwaukie Hospital and will continue to be treated there in a separate unit.

Providence said that for now physicians, nurses and other caregivers will continue to follow infectious disease and safety protocols.

A woman in the patient’s host family in Portland told The Oregonian that the woman is fine. “She’s doing well. I just talked to her today.”

However, there’s no word on what she DOES have and  when she will be released.

But a new case has popped up in  North Carolina where DHHS says an individual traveling from Liberia arrived in Person County, N.C. on Saturday and developed a fever on Sunday.

 

A blood sample from the patient will be sent to the State Laboratory of Public Health, in the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, for preliminary testing. The preliminary results of the patient’s first Ebola test are expected to be completed early Monday morning. Based on the preliminary results, the specimen will be forwarded to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for confirmatory testing.

The patient took a bus from Newark to Durham County North Carolina.
WRAL reported:

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services is monitoring a patient at Duke University Hospital who traveled from Liberia and has developed a fever.

Officials said the patient departed Liberia and arrived Friday at Newark (NJ) Liberty International Airport, which is one of five airports in the nation screening travelers from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone for fever and other signs of illness linked to the Ebola virus.

The patient had no symptoms upon arrival and had no known exposure to Ebola while in Liberia, officials said.

UPDATE:

Via USA Today:

A North Carolina man who developed a fever after returning from a trip to Liberia has tested negative for Ebola, authorities said.

The man arrived back in the United States on Friday after traveling to Liberia, WCNC-TV in Charlotte reported. He developed a fever Sunday morning at a family home in Person County and was taken to Duke University Hospital in Durham, WCNC said.

Testing conducted at the State Laboratory of Public Health returned a preliminary negative result for Ebola.. Additional testing will occur 72 hours after his fever first developed to confirm this result.

MEANWHILE:

Via NJ.com: Some Trenton residents monitored for Ebola symptoms, health officer says:

The state Department of Health reported on Friday that there are approximately 100 people in New Jersey who are being monitored at home. None of the New Jersey residents are hospitalized and no one appears to be sick, Brownlee said.

In Trenton, Brownlee said the city’s public health nurses check in on the list of individuals twice every day by phone to get the individuals’ reported temperatures and ask a series of questions to determine if they are experiencing any symptoms of the virus.

“This is just a public health precaution to watch these people,” Brownlee said. ‘They are not restricted from moving about, going to work or school.”

Trenton has a substantial population of West African transplants. The East Coast Outreach Development International, a Bucks County-based nonprofit started by a group of Liberian natives, is working to raise awareness in Trenton and the surrounding area about the serious nature of Ebola and disseminate information about the virus.

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LIberian Woman Hospitalized In OR With Ebola-Like Symptoms

CORRECTION: There is only one woman being treated with Ebola-like symptoms – in Oregon. I assumed there was another case in WI because she is being treated in Milwaukie Hospital…(Very sloppy of me, I know.)

The woman, who had traveled to the United States from Liberia,  was hospitalized in Oregon with a 102-degree fever and is undergoing testing for Ebola.

Big Government reported on the case in Oregon.

The Oregonian reports that the woman “recently arrived in Portland and was monitoring herself for Ebola symptoms under a voluntary program” and that “a source told The Oregonian she arrived from Liberia on Tuesday evening.” According to the Los Angeles Times, the woman flew through one of the five U.S. airports screening travelers entering the U.S. from Ebola-stricken countries.

Oregon officials have remained tight-lipped about the woman or her background, citing privacy issues. She remains in isolation at Providence Milwaukie Hospital until test results determine the cause of her illness and temperature. Reuters originally reported that the woman was an “Oregon resident.” However, both The Oregonian and the Los Angeles Times flatly dispute that characterization.

“The patient is not an Oregon resident,” reports the Los Angeles Times. “She had been staying in a household in the Portland area.”

OPB.com reported on the case at the Milwaukie hosp.

A woman who was being monitored for the Ebola virus in Multnomah County after traveling to West Africa was hospitalized today with a “sustained fever.” County health officials say she developed the fever this morning, and it rose to 102 degrees.

A fever can be a symptom of Ebola, but health officials also pointed out that other diseases cause fevers – like malaria.

Meanwhile, six travelers from West Africa are being monitored for Ebola in Indiana, Fox 59 reported:

State health officials are monitoring six people in Indiana for Ebola symptoms in accordance with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

All are considered low risk and traveled from West Africa. Indiana was one of the first states to begin “direct active monitoring” of returning travelers. Gov. Mike Pence and the Indiana State Department of Health implemented the policy on Oct. 16.

Monitoring includes twice-daily temperature and symptom checks by local health agencies. The state health department then records the results.

Two patients have completed the monitoring protocol while six others are currently under observation. They’re cooperating with the protocol, which lasts 21 days. State health officials aren’t releasing the names of the counties where travelers are being monitored in accordance with privacy laws.

A couple of weeks ago, Charles Krauthammer predicted that as soon as “we get a couple more cases of people who come in with Ebola – like Mr. Duncan, and I absolutely assure you we’re going to have a travel ban.”

This woman, who have recently traveled to the US from West Africa may very well test positive for Ebola – and the cries for a travel ban will get louder.

 UPDATE:

Via Drudge: Scientists predict up to 130 Ebola cases in USA by end of year…and Studies show airport screenings largely ineffective…

USHANKA has a question: Now, 15 hours later, there is no new news on her diagnosis.  Why? –

 Why the delays in diagnosis?  For one, did you know that only the CDC can give an Ebola diagnosis?  It is convenient to have a single source of news, and that source being a government entity, if one were to want withhold information from the public.  Shipping a blood sample to the CDC for testing and diagnosis requires 4-6 hours.  By midnight last night the CDC knew whether the Portland patient has Ebola.

UPDATE: 

Oregon Live: Liberian woman monitored in Portland-area Ebola unit no longer has fever, host family says:

A Liberian woman who was rushed to Providence Milwaukie Hospital on Friday over fears she might be infected with Ebola is no longer suffering from a fever, according to members of the Portland family she was visiting.

“She’s feeling good,” the husband in the host family said during a brief interview on Saturday. “There’s no more temperature.”

The man, who’s a pastor, spoke to a reporter on condition of anonymity for fear that his family, who are under voluntary quarantine in their home, would be stigmatized.

The Liberian woman is the latest of three people in Portland who have been monitoring themselves for Ebola symptoms. One woman finished the 21-day period on Saturday, sources told The Oregonian.

State Dept. Memo Shows Obama Admin. Considering Plan To Transfer Ebola Patients to US (Video)

FOX News obtained a State Department memo that confirms what Judicial Watch originally reported on October 17 – that the Obama administration is considering a plan to transfer infected Ebola patients to the US. for treatment.

It’s not clear who would bear the  costs of transporting and treating the non-citizen Ebola patients but Judicial Watch reported that “the plans include special waivers of laws and regulations that ban the admission of non-citizens with a communicable disease as dangerous as Ebola.”

Apparently, none of this is any of the American people’s business because when White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest was asked about the memo, he would not confirm nor deny the document exists. While the Obama administration publicly denies claims that they are exploring plans to bring non-U.S. citizens infected with Ebola to the United States for treatment, apparently they’re telling Congress something entirely different.

According to Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, members of the media and his office “have received confidential communications saying that those plans are being developed.”

Initially, the potentially illegal plans were being kept secret from Congress, but Goodlatte sent a letter of inquiry to the White House, last week.

Via Gateway Pundit,  FOX News reported

“Members of the media, my office have received confidential communications saying that those plans are being developed,” Goodlatte said Monday night.

“This is simply a matter of common sense that if you are concerned about this problem spreading — and this is a deadly disease that we’re even concerned about the great health care workers when they come back not spreading it — we certainly shouldn’t be bringing in the patients.”

But a State Department official said Tuesday that they’re only talking about letting other countries use U.S. planes to transport Ebola patients to their own home countries.

Goodlatte: There’s Increasing Evidence the WH Plans To Transport Ebola Patients From W Africa To US For Treatment

On the Kelly File, Monday night, Ed Henry reported on the growing controversy regarding the use of quarantines for Americans returning from West Africa. The White House is, of course, against quarantines and travel bans for doctors and nurses returning to the states after treating Ebola patients – basically any common sense action that can protect Americans they have a knee-jerk aversion to. The Pentagon on the other hand, is mandating 21 day quarantines for returning troops even thought they haven’t been in “the hot zone” in direct contact with patients.

Suspicion is growing that the White House is planning to bring Ebola patients from West Africa to the United States for treatment without consent from Congress.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte wrote to the president, last week, asking about those plans, and is still waiting for a response. Meanwhile, as Kelly notes, we’re hearing news that the Pentagon is building portable isolation units that can transport up to 12 Ebola patients on military planes.

“And the Pentagon says these are not meant for the troops who are serving on the Ebola mission.”

“There’s increasing evidence that they’re making those plans,” Goodlatte said. He claimed they received information about the plans from people within the administration.

SEE ALSO:

Some helpful information about the whiny nurse who wrote the anti-quarantine screed.

Got News: #Ebola Nurse Complaining About Quarantine is Left-Wing Democrat, CDC Employee WITH UPDATE

The nurse currently quarantined in New Jersey is an employee for the Centers for Disease Control and a registered Democrat with a history of left-wing advocacy, Gotnews.com has learned.

Kaci Hickox’s ties to the CDC were not disclosed in a controversial anti-quarantine column she wrote for the Dallas Morning News. The CDC opposes quarantines or travel bans from Ebola infected countries.

Initially turned down for Doctors Without Borders, Hickox applied for a position with the Centers for Disease Control’s infectious disease unit. She received that position and began a two-year fellowship in Las Vegas, NV where she currently still works.

Hickox’s travels as a nurse took her to Myanmar, Cambodia, and Nigeria and convinced her of the importance of quarantines and “health surveillance,” according to the University of Texas-Arlington newsmagazine. “I realize that we need to find better ways to improve health surveillance and outbreak response in settings with poor resources,” Hickox said. “My training in the EIS with the CDC will allow me to learn the gold standard of this kind of work.”

But Hickox, who is a registered Democrat in Nevada, is ignoring health surveillance as she pushes back against a mandatory quarantine for persons working with ebola in West Africa.

Conservative Treehouse: Activist Federal Healthcare Worker Kaci Hickox Released – Chris Christie Forced To Reverse Quarantine – As U.S. Military is Now Forced To Quarantine…

Bowling With Ebola

So – a doctor in NYC was diagnosed last night with Ebola.

Greta Van Susteren reviewed his itinerary at GretaWire:

He got back from West Africa last Friday and has been moving around the city and coming in contact with many since returning from West Africa. His temperature was taken at JFK when he returned per the Obama Administration new port entry rules. He passed. Now read on:

I realize it is difficult to protect the nation from ebola, but, at the very least, the American people should not be slicked into feeling safe from a procedure that is grossly inadequate.

If you watch ON THE RECORD at 7pm, you know I have more than once pointed out the obvious: the Obama Administration’s airport entry tests for people arriving from Africa is both ridiculous as inadequate and falsely lulls American people into feeling safe, that something is being done to protect them. At 5 airports, passengers’ temperatures are taken as an ebola test. Here is the obvious problem with this – assume this:

Day#1 – passenger gets ebola in West Africa

Day #5 (?) – gets on a plane from West Africa to USA and has NO SYMPTOMS. Passenger arrives at one of the 5 airports and gets temperature taken and TEMPERATURE IS NORMAL. Passenger continues journey into the United States.

Day 18? – passenger develops fever (symptom of ebola.) Passenger obviously within the 21 day incubation period. PASSENGER, NOW IN USA, HAS EBOLA and is CONTAGIOUS.

The day before he went to the hospital,  Dr. Craig Spencer and his live-in girlfriend Morgan Dixon went out on the town – which included a subway ride to the BOWLING ALLY.

Via Charles C. Johnson of Got News, the hipster couple “exposed New Yorkers in two different boroughs to ebola during their night out on the town.”

They are both registered Democrats with a history of working in public health.

Both Spencer and Dixon are professional do gooders according to their LinkedIn and professional websites. Spencer boasts a degree from Columbia’s University Mailman School of Public Health, according to his since deleted LinkedIn page.

So why did health care professionals decide to go bowling just days after Spencer returned from Ebola-infected Guinea?

Doctors Without Borders had already announced nine deaths from Ebola and sixteen infections. Why didn’t Spencer take his sickness seriously?

I think the answer lies in the first five words of the above paragraph.

Drudge once again has linked to the disinformation-monger Alex Jones, who is claiming that Ebola patients are being “disappeared.”

But anyone who has been closely monitoring the news, has to be suspicious that the least transparent administration in our nation’s history is trying to cover up inconvenient Ebola news – not so much to avoid panic – but to protect Democrats in the midterm elections.

Paul Rahe of Ricochet also wonders if there are other cases out there that are being swept under the carpet.

My first instinct is to suspect such claims. But, over the last few years, we have been misled time and again, and I could easily imagine the Obama Administration, in a panic, directing the CDC to hide as much as possible.

Like everything else about this administration, I suppose, the truth will eventually come out — after it is politically irrelevant.

Meanwhile, unlike last week’s Ebola hearing, Republicans on the Oversight and reform Committee came to their hearing, this morning, armed with the facts to assail HHS for its inadequate preparation for and response to the disease.

Some highlights:

Rep Darrell Issa DESTROYS CDC At Ebola Hearing. CDC Has Been Giving False Information:

 

Rep Jim Jordan DESTROYS Dr Lurie For Wasting Money On Puppet Shows Instead Of Ebola Vaccine:

Trey Gowdy vs Dr Lurie On Ron Klain Being Qualified For Ebola Czar. Ebola Hearing:

CDC Blew Off Ebola Expert’s Advice On Protocols (Video)

Judge Jeanine Pirro gave an opening statement, Saturday night,  slamming the Regime’s response to the Obama outbreak thus far, calling CDC Director Dr. Thomas Friedman a former “community organizer” – a designation I couldn’t independently confirm. I wouldn’t be surprised – but I do know that he’s a highly qualified epidemiologist who has experience in New York fighting infectious diseases, which makes his weak performance dealing with the Ebola outbreak, here all the more bewildering.

She had on bio safety expert and president of Behavioral Based Improvement Solutions, Sean Kaufman, who oversaw the infection control of the first two Ebola patients in the United States.

Kaufman had just returned from  Liberia where he has been fighting the disease through the organization, Samaritan’s Purse. He said there was good news and bad news to share about his experience flying back home. The screening process when he got to the Atlanta Airport was about 45 minutes long,  and was very thorough, he said, but  in Brussels, where he had a ten hour stopover after his flight from Monrovia – there was absolutely no screening what-so-ever.

When Pirro asked Kaufman if he was for or against a travel ban, he answered that he used to be  against it, but given this recent experience in Brussels, he was leaning toward favoring a travel ban for non-essential travel from those effected countries.

Kaufman – a former employee of the CDC – told Pirro that he contacted them early on to criticize their Ebola protocols – which he thought were  inadequate – but he was blown off. He told the stunned Pirro, that they reacted at first by debating his proposals and then they just  “blew me off.”  He added, “the reality is, there was no follow up.”

The CDC was expected to release new guidelines, Saturday night.

Pirro also had infectious disease expert Dr. Arnott to talk about the Ebola outbreak.

He talked about how the The World Health Organization dropped the ball on Ebola. Doctors Without Borders warned WHO about the Ebola outbreak seven months ago, but they blew them off- as did the United States.