Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Thursday that up to 100 people are being contacted as they retrace the first U.S. Ebola patient’s steps in the metropolitan area, and that two-thirds of them are from the hospital that has been treating him.
Mr. Rawlings told CNN that local officials are playing “man-to-man defense” against any possible spread of the virus and that paramedics who treated the patient, Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, will be isolated for 21 days.
He said he can point to no evidence that Mr. Duncan was vomiting profusely, as had been reported, when paramedics assisted him near the apartment where he had been staying.
“I assume that did not happen. There are a lot of bad rumors going around, as you can imagine,” he said.
The mayor said Mr. Duncan is in serious-but-stable condition, as information about his recent past trickles into public view.
He reportedly assisted a sick woman, who died the next day, when he was still in Liberia, prompting CNN to ask whether Mr. Duncan should have explained that to health officials.
“It’s a good question as to why he didn’t self-report on this,” Mr. Rawlings said.
Mr. Duncan did report to a nurse that he came to the U.S. from Liberia, but that information was not shared with the rest of the clinical team.
He was discharged and out in the community for two days before he was admitted to the hospital on Sunday. Officials confirmed Tuesday that he had the virus.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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