Officials in Dallas are preparing to ask for a disaster declaration due to the Ebola virus that has been diagnosed in the area. Those officials will make the formal request on October 16. According to Wednesday, October 15 report by NBCDFW, Dallas County Commissioners will hold a special meeting on Thursday to declare a disaster in Dallas. The reason the Dallas County Commissioners are asking for such a declaration is due to potential for widespread or severe damage, injury, loss, or threat of life resulting from the Ebola virus. The declaration would create travel restrictions. Those restrictions would limit travel for the health care workers that was involved in the care of the Thomas Eric Duncan. Duncan was the first person in Dallas to have the Ebola virus. Clay Jenkins said that disaster declaration would help to keep those possibly exposed to Ebola from using DART trains, buses and airplanes. Jenkins is a Dallas County judge. He also stated that he would work with state officials to enforce the disaster declaration outside of Dallas County. It is possible that public venues could be included in the travel restrictions. At the time of publication, it was unknown which public venues would be restricted to those who could have been exposed to the Ebola virus. It was also unknown if the restrictions would be limited to the state of Texas. It is about time something is being done, Bridget Hooper, from Oklahoma City, said. Too bad travel restrictions arent international. We should be checking every passport on every international flight. We should do something to close our border with Mexico. People with Ebola can fly into Mexico and then just walk it into America. The disaster declaration would give Dallas County legal authority to restrict movements of those who could have been exposed to Ebola. At the time of publication, it would only apply to those being monitored. It is unknown of that legal authority could be expanded to others. Judge Jay Jenkins stated that no one told those health care workers who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan not to stay away from the public during the period of time they were being monitored for Ebola. The incubation period for Ebola is believed to be 21 days and that is the length of time the health care workers were to be monitored. The second nurse from Dallas diagnosed with Ebola, Amber Vinson, traveled by plane from Ohio to Dallas. She is currently being treated for Ebola at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. She also flew from Dallas to Cleveland. Despite the judges statement, Amber Vinson called the CDC several times to ask if she could fly. She explained to the CDC that she had a temperature of 99.5 degrees. The CDC told Amber Vinson she could fly. It appears that Vinson had concerns about traveling by airplane, seeing she called to asked if it was safe. The only reason she called was because she didnt know if it was safe or not, seeing she had a fever, Debra Carney, from Shawnee, said. She didnt call to get permission to fly when she left Dallas. She didnt have a fever then. She knew something was going on or she wouldnt have called. The CDC dropped the ball. And, as a nurse, she should have known better. The Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital admitted that mistakes were made. Those mistakes have led to two more people being diagnosed with the Ebola virus. The disaster declaration is being declared to help stop additional mistakes from being made in the future.
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 05:42:50 +0000
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