48 set to be cleared in Dallas after Ebola monitoring

By Monday morning, 48 of the people in Dallas who are being monitored for Ebola symptoms will be cleared to resume their lives, after a tense three weeks for them and for much of the nation. Fourteen of the 48 were cleared Saturday and 34 more were to be released from control orders at midnight, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said Sunday evening at a news conference in Dallas. That will leave more than 100 in Dallas and Ohio still being monitored. Jenkins said the first 14 included those who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian who died of Ebola, when he arrived in the emergency department at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Sept. 28. The other 34 had contact with him later that day after he was admitted. Duncan died of Ebola Oct. 8. Two nurses who contracted Ebola while tending to him are hospitalized in biocontainment units in Maryland and Atlanta. Nina Pham remained in fair but stable condition and “resting comfortably” at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., agency spokesman John Burklow said Sunday, Pham, 26, of Dallas, grew up in Fort Worth. The family of the second nurse, Amber Vinson of Dallas, released a statement Sunday saying they have hired Washington attorney Billy Martin, who has represented NBA players and others. Vinson, 29, whose condition has been kept private, is at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. The family’s statement says they are optimistic about her condition, and strongly defends her actions in detail. Vinson flew from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport to Cleveland, and then flew back when she had a fever but before she tested positive for the virus. Children in several Texas school districts, including Belton and Saginaw, were on flights with her and are being monitored, not attending school. “We are troubled by some of the negative public comments and media coverage that mischaracterize Amber and her actions,” the statement says. “To be clear, in no way was Amber careless prior to or after her exposure to Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan. She has not and would not knowingly expose herself or anyone else.” Vinson left for Cleveland before Pham tested positive, the family’s statement says. While she was in Ohio, she heard of Pham’s diagnosis, and was contacted by the Dallas County health department. She reported her temperature and was read a letter about symptoms and what to report, the statement says. She was asked to self-monitor and report results twice daily. The statement says that when she got ready to return to Dallas, she reported her temperature three different times before boarding the flight, which was delayed, and was cleared each time. The day after she got back to Dallas, on Oct. 14, Vinson reported a temperature of 100.3 degrees, admitted herself to Presbyterian and has been quarantined since. Louise Troh, the woman Duncan flew to Dallas to marry, is among those who should be in the clear Monday morning. He was staying with her when he became ill. Troh asked for privacy “as we seek to rebuild our home, our family and our daily living.” She adds, “I do have a story to tell, and I look forward to telling it in my own way.” Duncan was staying with Troh when he fell ill. It remains to be seen where she will go. Jenkins said the family will stay put Monday, in the four-bedroom home in a gated community donated for their use, and then move to a temporary rental. “Our hope is, as the community concerns die down, there won’t be any reluctance to rent to a fine family,” Jenkins said.