Traveler From Liberia Monitored For Ebola As Precaution While He Visits Michigan
OAK PARK (WWJ) -- The Centers for Disease Control has informed local and state health officials that a man from West Africa is visiting family in the Oakland county area. The man from Liberia is visiting family in Oak Park and while he has shown no signs of illness, the C.D.C. has asked the man to self-monitor himself.
Oakland County Health and Human Services Director George Miller said that out of an abundance of caution, an epidemiologist has been assigned to communicate with the man twice daily to monitor his health for at least 21 days.
"We assigned an epidemiologist here in the Health Division to make contact with the gentleman," Miller said. "Our contact went very well with him, he's very compliant at this point."
The Liberian man, who entered the U.S. through an airport in New York City, was screened twice -- once in New York and again at Metro Airport -- and showed no signs of illness.
"The self-monitoring is something that the C.D.C. has applied and we here in Oakland County went one step further to be proactive and contacted the individual and we're doing a daily twice assessment," Miller said.
The man told authorities that he had no contact with anyone known to have the Ebola virus and was observed to be symptom free at the time of arrival.
Travelers arriving from West Africa are now subject to extra screening for signs of Ebola at some U.S. airports. Screeners have begun checking the temperature of travelers arriving from the affected region at New York's Kennedy International Airport.
The checks have expanded to four other major airports, but not Detroit Metro. Airport spokesman Mike Conway, though, said that the airport is equipped to handle any problems.
"[The C.D.C.] operates quarantine stations with the top 20 U.S. gateways — the C.D.C is responsible for monitoring arriving international flights if there's report of a sick passenger," Conway said.
Meantime, the Michigan Association of Nurses say not enough is being done across the board in Michigan to prepare first responder nurses.
The Association conducted a survey and found almost four-out-of-five nurses say they have not heard from their employer about Ebola preparedness.
"For those respondents who have had contact with their employers about this, the majority of those folks say that the necessary equipment — for example, Hazmat suits — a simple surgical gown is not going to be sufficient," John Armelagos, president of the Michigan Nurses Association, said.
Days after two Dallas nurses contracted Ebola from a patient who died of the virus, President Barack Obama has appointed Ron Klain to coordinate the government's "comprehensive response" to Ebola.
