Quarantined Family of U.S. Ebola Patient Moved to Undisclosed Location in Texas
The quarantined family of U.S. Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan was moved from their apartment to an undisclosed location at Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings’ request, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden.
No members of Duncan’s family, now housed in a four-bedroom home in a gated community somewhere in Texas, have shown symptoms of Ebola, Frieden said at a press briefing from the CDC‘s Atlanta headquarters on Saturday. Officials did not reveal the reason for the family’s move, but Dallas County Judge Clay Lewis Jenkins said at the presser that the new location was a place he would feel safe putting his own family.
A young person looks out the window of an apartment in Dallas, on Friday, Oct. 3, 2014, where Duncan stayed last week.
Image: LM Otero/Associated Press
Frieden also confirmed that the number of people who may have been in contact with Duncan and are being monitored for possible Ebola symptoms, currently stands at 50. None of them showed symptoms as of Saturday morning, he added.
Duncan remains in intensive care at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Frieden was unable to confirm whether or not Duncan was given any experimental Ebola treatments.
“Our number one priority is the safety of America, full stop,” Frieden said, addressing suggestions by some that the U.S. seal itself off from the affected West African countries. “We need to look at suggestions being made … Although we might wish we could seal ourselves off from the world, there are Americans with the right of return.”
Ashoka Mukpo, a 33-year-old American cameraman is set to return to the U.S. after being diagnosed with Ebola following a reporting stint in Liberia.
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