Travel Ban Dallas Health Workers - Health workers in Texas who had contact with Ebola patient Thomas Duncan before he died are now banned from any form of travel for 21 days. The travel ban Dallas health workers order was issued by Texas state health officials.
Apart from air travel, the travel ban Dallas health workers command includes the prohibition of using other forms of public transportation such as planes ship, buses or trains. They are also prevented from visiting groceries, restaurants or theaters until the danger of developing Ebola has passed, reports USA Today.
The Texas Department of State Health Services issued the number of measures (viewable via PDF below) on Thursday since they want to monitor every individual who have come in contact with Duncan days prior to his death.
The travel ban Dallas health workers instruction reportedly cover more than 70 health workers involved in caring for Duncan, the Liberian national who became the first patient to test positive for Ebola inside United States borders.
The 42-year-old died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Oct. 8.
The travel ban Dallas health workers mandate requires hospital workers to take part in monitoring twice a day, involving face-to-face encounter.
According to the health department, anyone who fails to follow the rules on the travel ban Dallas health workers "may be subject to a communicable disease control order."
In effect, the health workers were to sign a written acknowledgement of the directions when they appear for monitoring.
The new travel ban Dallas health workers order came after reports that one nurse who treated Duncan at Texas, 29-year-old Amber Vinson, was able to travel to Cleveland and return home to Dallas on Oct. 13 via Frontier Airlines. Vinson had previously reported she had a low-grade fever, which meant she might have Ebola, yet she was allowed to travel.
Since the travel ban Dallas health workers order hasn't been implemented then, Vinson traveled and hours after the flight on, she tested positive for Ebola on Tuesday. She was hospitalized in Dallas and eventually transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta.
The CDC is now trying its best to track down the passengers of the plane Vinson had traveled in, reports Media ITE.
Meanwhile, Nurse Nina Pham, who also treated Duncan in Dallas, has been transferred to the National Institute of Health hospital in Bethesda after testing positive for Ebola in Texas. The 26-year-old is the first health care worker to have contracted the disease after Duncan's death.
The Thursday's order on the travel ban Dallas health workers involved health workers who cared for Duncan to self-monitor for Ebola symptoms.
David Lakey, commissioner of the state health department and the authority who signed the travel ban Dallas health workers, said any of the health-care workers in question can remain at the hospital for the three-week monitoring.
On Thursday, Briana Aguirre, a worker at Texas Presbyterian, said she cannot defend the staff's care of Ebola patients any longer since administrators have not discussed anything regarding the virus or protocols in dealing with it until Duncan's arrival.
She said her co-workers practically violated the basic principles of nursing while treating the Liberian national.
"We never talked about Ebola and we probably should have," Aguirre said during an interview with the Today show. "They gave us an optional seminar to go to. Just informational, not hands on. It wasn't even suggested we go. ... We were never told what to look for."
"It was just a little chaotic scene. Our infectious disease department was contacted to ask, 'What is our protocol?' And their answer was, 'We don't know. We're going to have to call you back,'" she added.
On Thursday, the same day as the signing of the travel ban Dallas health workers order, hospital officials and the CDC have reportedly gone through harsh scrutiny at congressional hearings due to Vinson's trip days after treating the deceased Liberian Ebola patient.
As of the current moment, Americans' fear of Ebola and their disapproval on how the government is handling the spread of the disease continues to grow, according to MSNBC.
Two-thirds of the population of the United States say they are concerned that an outbreak might occur in the country. As a result, members of Congress and candidates running for office in next month's midterm elections are blaming the mishap on Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the CDC and are asking for his resignation.
In relation to the travel ban Dallas health workers order, Congress is also trying to implement no-fly lists and travel bans to West African countries.
On Thursday, Frieden confirmed to Congress that Vinson had called the CDC to ask permission to fly. Frieden said he was told that she reported no symptoms when she called, although she knew she had a low-grade fever.
Eight people in northeast Ohio are now in voluntary quarantine because of contact with Vinson, who visited her family in the Akron area before going to Cleveland then back to Dallas.
The travel ban Dallas health workers order may appear to have been implemented too late, but it is still the best way to avoid spread of the disease.
Ebola isn't airborne and it can only be transmitted by someone manifesting its symptoms, said Dr. Jennifer Hanrahan, chair of the Infectious Control Committee at the Metro Health Medical Center in Cleveland during a press conference Thursday.
The virus has already killed 4,484 people in the Western nations of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
According to the WHO, in the span of only two months, there could be new 10,000 cases of Ebola each week.
The travel ban Dallas health workers order can prove an effective method of stopping the spread of the disease to health care workers, who are most susceptible to it. 427 health care workers in West Africa have been infected while 236 have already died because of the virus. Data also revealed that cases of infected health workers are doubling every four weeks, therefore the only way to prevent the virus from spreading amongst the workers is the strict implementation of the travel ban Dallas health workers order.
Texas Department of Health instructions
Below is a USA Now Report on U.S. actions on the Ebola spread
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
