Craig Spencer, the New York City doctor who contracted the Ebola virus while treating patients in Guinea, is improving and in stable condition. Meanwhile, 357 people in New York City are now being monitored for signs of the Ebola virus.
One person Spencer had close contact with after returning to the United States has been released from quarantine. Spencer’s fiancee remains confined, Businessweek reported.
[quote text_size=”small” author=”– New York Department of Health”]
This person’s daily movements in New York City will no longer be restricted, and the individual will be assessed twice each day by Health Department staff.
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The city is now monitoring 357 people as part of an effort to stop and quickly identify any new infections. Most of those being monitored have recently returned to the state from Ebola-affected West African countries, and the group includes personnel who transported Spencer to the hospital.
The number of those monitored will fluctuate as the 21-day incubation window for the virus closes for some people and opens for others, Newsday reported.
This announcement comes as Ohio said it is now Ebola-fre and Texas prepares to end the observation period for the last 27 healthcare workers potentially exposed. On Wednesday, the Ohio Department of Health reported the state is in triple-zero status, which means there are no confirmed Ebola cases, no people under quarantine and no people who had contact with possible Ebola patients, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Ebola is now suspected in over 5,000 deaths in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, with over 13,000 cases reported in 8 countries.
Nine people in total have been treated for the virus in the United States, including Thomas Eric Duncan of Liberia who died in October. Two nurses involved in Duncan’s treatment were infected. One flew to Ohio and back to Texas before she knew she had Ebola, prompting hundreds on the flights and those who used the plane before it was taken out of service had to go into monitoring or counseling. Both nurses, Amber Vinson and Nina Pham, are now free of Ebola.
