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CDC boards incoming BRU-EWR flight 4 Oct 2014 [Ebola considered unlikely]
Apparently this turned out to be nothing more than an ill passenger, but even I'd be concerned if the CDC boarded my flight in hazmat suits:
A United Airilines flight from Brussels was met by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials today at Newark Liberty International Airport after a passenger on board believed to be from Liberia exhibited possible signs of Ebola. The passenger was traveling with his daughter on United Flight 998 and both were removed from the plane by CDC crew in full hazmat gear. A senior federal official said the passenger was exbihiting "flu-like symptoms." Other passengers remained on the plane while the two were being removed. I wonder how many more of these boardings we're going to see in the next few weeks. Tom at the Sacramento Airport |
Nice to see precautions taken but there have been many articles on how hard it is to be infected with Ebola, seeing that (similar to HIV) it needs to be transmitted by bodily fluids (other than cough, sneeze etc). Seems it's being spread in poorer countries mainly due to their inadequate sanitary and living conditions. Perhaps it is our better infrastructure as well as this extra and possibly overly cautious reaction that will not allow it to spread wildly in the US...
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Wonder if this will mean longer turns of planes as the cleaning crew does a more comprehensive cleaning. Do they do anything with a disinfectant now? That has to be one of the uglier jobs in the airline industry.
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Originally Posted by tom911
(Post 23626255)
Apparently this turned out to be nothing more than an ill passenger, but even I'd be concerned if the CDC boarded my flight in hazmat suits:
http://abc7news.com/news/cdc-officia...mptoms/336777/ I wonder how many more of these boardings we're going to see in the next few weeks. Tom at the Sacramento Airport If you read the entire article, you will see that nothing has been ruled out. He was also apparently vomiting. Suggest that the mods change the title thread to reflect that Ebola has not been ruled out. <Off-topic comment removed.> |
My interpretation is the same as COA777's. I'm not seeing where they said it was ruled out
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The headline updates have been mine as the story progresses. Latest is CDC does not believe these passengers have Ebola.
"Passengers were cleared to leave United flight 998 Saturday afternoon after a representative of the federal Centers for Disease Control determined that an ill passenger did not have the virus, an airport official said." http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/ne...says-1.1102563 |
Originally Posted by l'etoile
(Post 23626596)
The headline updates have been mine as the story progresses. Latest is CDC does not believe these passengers have Ebola.
"Passengers were cleared to leave United flight 998 Saturday afternoon after a representative of the federal Centers for Disease Control determined that an ill passenger did not have the virus, an airport official said." http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/ne...says-1.1102563 Good news. |
Reading the media reports, this is still developing and no other outlets have independently received the same information the local paper is reporting. So it's certainly subject to change.
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Now we at least have a story with named sources who say the passengers in question did not have symptoms of ebola:
A Liberian man and his daughter were taken to a local hospital after their Newark-bound flight landed Saturday afternoon due to concerns that they may have been exposed to Ebola, officials said. A 35-year-old male passenger and his daughter, both of whom reside in Liberia, had been taken to University Hospital in Newark for treatment and for testing, but the CDC reported that they were not presenting with symptoms of Ebola, Port Authority spokesperson Erica Dumas said. "CDC reports that the subject and daughter are not exhibiting symptoms of Ebola exposure," Dumas said. |
Moderator note: We have threads in Omni P/R and TravelBuzz that deal with the broader issues of Ebola, travel and how to contain the virus. This thread is for the incident at EWR. Posts on other topics will be deleted.
l'etoile UA moderator |
The local paper---Newark Star Ledger---has current information. This particular United flight apparently connects w the flight from Liberia...so my best guess is that we are going to see more CDC checks if/when pax have been ill [in this case vomiting] during the flight. It is un-nerving for the pax but probably a very thoughtful, cautious approach.
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They should institute arrival screenings at large airports that receive many international flights such as EWR, ATL, JFK, LAX, etc. Back at the day of SARS arrival screening is routine. People can beat it by taking ibuprofen to suppress fever but still a good system to implement.
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Does CDC regularly have staff at EWR? If not, was someone coincidentally there -- or did they have enough time (and interest) to dispatch a person to EWR to meet the flight?
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This is not new - it just got in the news because of the Ebola paranoia. Fifteen years ago, I was very sick on a flight from NRT to SFO and we were boarded on arrival for health clearance as well. Though they didn't bring their hazmat gear on that one...
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New York Post coverage of EWR drama is critical of a "chaotic scene of worry, disorganization and bizarre priorities." The UA crew was "specific about one thing: No photographs were to be taken."
http://nypost.com/2014/10/04/sick-pa...ewark-airport/ |
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