US Ebola patient spent 3 hours in DC

[DrLeftover]

U.S. Ebola Patient Had Layover in Dulles, CDC Didn't Inform Other Passengers

1 Oct

Thomas Eric Duncan left Monrovia, Liberia, on Sept. 19 aboard a Brussels Airlines jet to the Belgian capital, according to a Belgian official. After layover of nearly seven hours, he boarded United Airlines Flight 951 to Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia. After another layover of nearly three hours, he then flew Flight 822 from Dulles to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the airline confirmed.

...

The CDC typically notifies an airline when it learns that an infectious person traveled on that carrier. The airline then turns over the flight manifest to the CDC, and health officials notify other passengers while the airline deals with crew members.

In this case, the CDC told United but not the public what flights the man took. In an interview Wednesday, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, suggested that doing so would divert public-health resources away from controlling an outbreak of the virus. He said the CDC was focused on finding and tracking anyone who came in contact with Duncan after he began showing symptoms.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/10/01/US-Ebola-Patient-Had-Layover-in-Dulles-International-Airport

 

[Webster]

I'm of two minds here...on the one hand, someone (either w/United, Customs, the CDC, etc.) screwed up here. On the other hand, the risk of transmission...well, quoting the CDC's own quarantine & isolation guidelines:

The risk of spreading Ebola to passengers or crew on an aircraft is low because Ebola spreads by direct contact with infected body fluids. Ebola does NOT spread through the air like flu.

...but by all means, let's spread panic, fear and paranoia, especially with links to news sources such as Breitbart...