Of the two Dallas health care workers who have now tested positive for the Ebola virus after treating Thomas Eric Duncan at a Dallas hostpital, one of them apparently traveled to Cleveland on a commercial flight in between the time she treated Duncan and was subsequently diagnosed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledged this week that the health care worker should not have been allowed to travel commercially.
Amber Vinson complained of a fever on Tuesday of this week before being diagnosed with Ebola and then quarantined at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC, explained that Vinson "should not have traveled on a commercial airline," though he then went on to say that the risk of transmission to any of the passengers she flew with was low. And yet the CDC followed up with the passengers that flew with Vinson on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143. The reason they gave for contacting the passengers was "because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning."
The plane Vinson and others flew on reportedly arrived at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport on Monday evening at 8:16 p.m and stayed there for the night.
Vinson was one of the health workers who provided care to Thomas Eric Duncan, the man who was the first confirmed case of Ebola within the continental United States. Duncan died at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sept. 28. Vinson reportedly had "extensive contact" with Duncan, including when he was vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. Frieden claims that Vinson and the other nurses treating Duncan all wore protective clothing, including three layers of gear and gloves. One issue with wearing multiple layers of protective clothing in such a setting is that removing everything without contaminating oneself is reportedly rather difficult.
76 health workers at Texas Presbyterian are being observed for symptoms of Ebola, Vinson being one of them. Vinson apparently showed no signs of Ebola symptoms last week and was thus cleared to travel, and she embarked from Dallas to Cleveland over the weekend. There were reportedly 132 passengers in total on that flight, and officials are requesting that each one contact them in order to determine if any of them could possible have contracted the virus from Vinson.
The plane was subsequently cleaned according to standard operating procedure, according to Frontier Airlines. This routine cleaning was apparently in compliance with CDC guidelines. The plane was cleaned a second time on Tuesday night in Cleveland.
