The apartment where the Texas Ebola patient stayed has still not been sanitized because the company hired to do it does not have the right permits to transport hazardous waste on state highways, CNN reported.
Brad Smith of the Cleaning Guys, the company hired to sanitize the unit where Thomas Eric Duncan stayed, said authorities turned his crew away late Thursday and told them to come back with permits from the Department of Transportation.
“This is a unique situation. Once awarded, our hazmat [hazardous materials] teams will be allowed back inside to do their jobs,” Mr. Smith told CNN.
A woman hosting Mr. Duncan, who arrived from Liberia on Sept. 20 and fell ill four days later, is stuck in her apartment with one of her children and two nephews.
Officials ordered them to stay put while they retrace Mr. Duncan’s steps, although they might be placed in more suitable living conditions.
The woman who lives in the apartment told CNN she did not know what to do with sweaty sheets from Mr. Duncan’s fever, putting pressure on federal and local authorities to clean up the apartment quickly.
Ebola is not an airborne infection. Rather, it’s spread through direct contact with an infected person’s bodily fluids.
Mr. Duncan is in serious condition at a Dallas hospital.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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