Ebola Scare at Pentagon After Woman Who Was Recently in Africa Vomits on Tour Bus...updated

[mystery-ak]

http://washington.cbslocal.com/2014/10/17/ebola-scare-at-pentagon-after-woman-who-was-recently-in-africa-vomits-on-tour-bus/

Ebola Scare at Pentagon After Woman Who Was Recently in Africa Vomits on Tour Bus
October 17, 2014 10:40 AM

ARLINGTON, Va. (CBSDC/AP) — The Pentagon is now the latest place to suffer from an Ebola scare.

Arlington News reports that a woman began vomiting while on a tour bus at the Pentagon. Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman told Arlington News that Arlington County’s hazmat team was called out when they learned that the woman was recently in Africa.

The hazmat team was called out of “a complete abundance of caution,” Layman told Arlington News.

According to Arlington News, a portion of the Pentagon South parking lot has been cordoned off and that police are telling non-Pentagon employees to avoid the surrounding area.

The woman has been transported to Virginia Hospital Center.


This scare comes as Obama administration officials said a Dallas health care worker who handled a lab specimen from a Liberian man who died from Ebola is self-quarantined on a Caribbean cruise ship and is being monitored for infection.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that the woman had shown no signs of the disease and has been asymptomatic for 19 days.

The government is working to return the woman and her husband to the U.S. before the ship, the Carnival Magic, completes its cruise.
 
The White House said the State Department was working to secure their transportation home.

An administration official who was not authorized to be named and requested anonymity said the cruise ship had stopped in Belize but officials there would not allow the passenger to leave the vessel.

Psaki said that when the woman left the U.S. on the cruise ship from Galveston, Texas, on Oct. 12 health officials were requiring only self-monitoring.

One official said it’s believed the woman poses no risk but health-care authorities want to get her off the cruise ship and back to the United States out of an abundance of caution.

There have been no restrictions placed on other passengers aboard the ship.

Carnival Cruise Lines said in a statement that the woman, a lab supervisor, remained in isolation “and is not deemed to be a risk to any guests or crew.”

“We are in close contact with the CDC and at this time it has been determined that the appropriate course of action is to simply keep the guest in isolation on board,” the statement said. The CDC is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

[GourmetDan]

                         

[mystery-ak]

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/10/17/sick-woman-causes-ebola-scare-at-pentagon-patient-being-evaluated/

Woman who caused Ebola scare at Pentagon admits she made up story about traveling to West Africa
Published October 17, 2014
FoxNews.com

A woman who caused an Ebola scare Friday and caused police to shut down a Pentagon entrance and a portion of the parking lot later confessed to hospital officials she had fabricated a story about recently traveling to West Africa, multiple government sources told Fox News.

At the same time, the Arlington County Health Department issued a statement saying medical authorities were confident she did not have Ebola.

A senior source familiar with the investigation told FoxNews.com that despite what she initially told police officers at the scene, there was no evidence she had recently left the country.

The woman, who got sick and threw up in a parking lot after a bus ride to a military event, was quarantined at INOVA Fairfax Hospital after telling officers she had been in Liberia two weeks ago, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Tom Crosson said.

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the woman, who has not been named, works for Total Spectrum, whose website says it is a lobbying and public relations firm. Managing Director Steve Gordon told The Associated Press the Pentagon had contacted him, and he claimed the woman had not been out of the Washington area.

The official said the woman was on a Metro bus, and transferred to a shuttle bus taking guests to a ceremony for Gen. Joe Dunford, who is taking over as commandant of the Marine Corps. She got off the shuttle before it left the Pentagon parking lot and then vomited. The official said it did not immediately appear that she was invited to the ceremony.

The statement from the Arlington County Health Department said, “Based on the public health investigation, which included the travel history of a woman who became ill this morning in a Pentagon parking lot, and on questioning of her by medical staff, medical authorities are confident that she does not have Ebola.”

It also said, “Arlington County took all necessary precautions to protect public health during this event, including activating its Emergency Operations Center. We are beginning to break down those operations now.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Atomic Cow]

This is the reason people need to not freak out every single time a story of someone puking makes the news.

There have already been some reports of people who are sick saying they may have Ebola to get quicker treatment in the ER and now we have a flat out liar.

Add to that certain websites which are intentionally spreading fear with misleading or outright false headlines, and it is only a matter of time before someone does something really stupid.