Update: The nurse has been identified as 29-year-old Amber Joy Vinson. Reports say she is being transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta where Dr. Kent Brantley was treated. A day before reporting symptoms, Vinson traveled on an airplane Monday from Cleveland to Dallas. The DMN has more on that.
Early this morning preliminary lab results confirmed that a second healthcare worker who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan has tested positive for Ebola. The woman has not yet been identified but lives in the Bend East section of the Village Apartments at 5454 Amesbury, WFAA reports. Crews were there cleaning the complex and alerting neighbors.
The woman reported having a fever on Tuesday and was immediately put in isolation at Texas Health Presbyterian. She lives alone and does not have any pets.
She joins Nina Pham, who also lives in our neighborhood on Marquita Avenue, in being among the first people to ever contract Ebola in the United States. The Dallas Morning News reported yesterday that Pham’s condition has been upgraded to “good.” More than 70 Presbyterian employees involved in Duncan’s care are still being monitored. Duncan died from the virus on Oct. 8.
A prayer service was held Monday night at Munger Place Church where neighbors came together in support of Pham. Advocate worship columnist George Mason is the pastor of Wilshire Baptist Church where Duncan’s fiance was a member. He wrote this poignant reflection on how the Ebola case can help bring us together in love, not pull us apart in fear.
WFAA is hosting a “Facts Not Fear” town-hall meeting 6:30-7:30 p.m. tonight at the Lakewood Theater to help inform people about Ebola. Panelists include ABC News chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser and Dr. Todd Pollock, president of the Dallas Medical Society.
