Texas Ebola case monitoring will finally come to an end. By Friday midnight, the 21-day incubation period for Ebola will be safely passed. And the last person being monitored in connection with the three Ebola patients in Texas is set to be cleared from twice-daily monitoring.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reported the hospital worker who last handled medical waste on Oct. 17 will be cleared by the end of the day Friday. According to CBS News, the Ebola case monitoring will be over when the 21-day quarantine for the virus will be safely passed.
"We're happy to reach this milestone, but our guard stays up," State health commissioner Dr. David Lakey said. "We reached this point through teamwork and meticulous monitoring, and we'll continue to be vigilant to protect Texas from Ebola."
The Ebola cases in Texas started when a Liberian man, Thomas Eric Duncan, planned to settle in the United States. NBC News reported he became sick and was at first misguidedly sent home from the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. Two days later, he returned by ambulance and was diagnosed with the virus. He eventually died on Oct. 8.
The Texas authorities had to track as many as 50 people who may have been in contact with Duncan. However, the challenge came when two nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, have contracted Ebola while treating Duncan.
One of the nurses, Amber Vinson had traveled to Ohio to make wedding plans. Although she wasn't diagnosed until she came back to Dallas, her travels sparked waves of worry. Because of the Texas Ebola cases, several issues have risen and debated. Experts said the precautionary measures of the state were "overkill" while supporters said it was "better to be safe than sorry."
Overall, there were 177 people in Texas Ebola case being monitored after have been exposed to one of the three confirmed patients, specimens or medical waste. Among those who were keenly monitored include healthcare personnel, household contacts and community members. But the good news, none of them got sick.
Now, three weeks after the first Texas Ebola case, it is clear that no one else have contracted the disease. As predicted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and several experts, the high-risk people were healthcare workers in close, prolonged contact with a patient who was actively showing symptoms.
"I think it is a reinforcement of the basics of what we know about this disease," said Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell.
Recently, the state also cleared over 160 people from monitoring. These were passengers on a commercial flight taken by Vinson when she was having a slight fever.
The 21-day is based on the longest known incubation period for Ebola. As experts said, most Ebola transmission happen between 6 and 12 days. They also stressed that patients only transmit the virus after they've developed symptoms like nausea, diarrhea and fever.
Following the conclusion of the Texas Ebola case monitoring, a single US patient remains in isolation. The patient is Dr. Craig Spencer, a Doctors Without Borders volunteer who became sick after his return from treating patients in Guinea. He is being treated in Bellevue Hospital in New York.
New York's health department said they are monitoring 357 people, mostly travelers but also a few staff who have been in contact with the infected doctor. The department also wished to end Ebola in the state.
Elected official, Judge Clay Jenkins, who oversaw the nation's response to its three-person Texas Ebola case, expressed his hopes before the deadline passed.
"God willing, we are going to be Ebola-free Friday midnight," Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said.
Though the Texas Ebola case is nearing its conclusion, health experts still warn that someone incubating Ebola could arrive in the country at any time. They also emphasized the only way to truly protect the US is to stop the source of the outbreak in West Africa.
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