We're here today to communicate about a health care worker who has contracted the Ebola virus.
That health care worker is a heroic person who provided care to Mr. Duncan. I met with
that health care worker's parents and the health care worker and their parents have
asked that their privacy be respected and their name not be released at this time. We
expected that something -- that it was possible that a second person could contract the virus.
Contingency plans were put into place and the hospital will discuss the way that the
health care worker followed those contingency plans which will make our jobs in monitoring
and containment much easier in this case than in the last one.
I want to stress before we bring up a doctor a very important fact. You cannot contract
Ebola other than from the bodily fluids of the symptomatic Ebola victim.
You cannot contract Ebola by walking by people in the street or by being around contacts
who are not symptomatic. There is nothing about this case that changes that basic premise
of science. And so it's important that while this is obviously bad news, it is not news
that should bring about panic.
Late last Saturday evening, a preliminary blood test on a caregiver at Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas proved positive for Ebola. This health care worker had been
under the self- monitoring regimen prescribed by the CDC. And based on involvement and caring
for the patient Thomas Eric Duncan during his care that started on September 28th.
Now individuals who are being monitored are required to take their temperatures twice
daily. And as a result of that process, the caregiver notified the hospital of imminent
arrival and was immediately admitted to the hospital's isolation room. The entire process
from the patient's self-monitoring to the admission into isolation took less than 90
minutes. The patient's condition is stable. A close contact has also been proactively
placed in isolation. The caregiver and the family as already stated, have requested total
privacy, so we can't discuss any further details of the situation.
The judge mentioned we've known that further cases of Ebola are a possibility among those
who were in contact with Mr. Duncan before he passed away last week. A system of monitoring,
quarantine and isolation was established to protect those who cared for Mr. Duncan, as
well as the community at large by identifying any potential Ebola cases as early as possible
and getting those individuals into treatment immediately.
Finally, we have put the emergency department at Presbyterian on diversion until further
notice because of limitations in staff capacity. That means ambulances are not currently bringing
patients to our emergency department. While we are on emergency department diversion,
however, we continue to fully care for all of our patients, and we are also using this
time to further expand the margin of safety by triple checking our full compliance with
the updated CDC guidelines. We are also continuing to monitor all staff who had some relation
to Mr. Duncan's care even if they are not assumed to be at significant risk of infection.
All of these steps are being taken so the public and our own employees can have complete
confidence in the safety and integrity of our facilities and the care we provide. Thank you.