Md. Enacts New Protocols To Battle Ebola
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Tests show the person brought to the University of Maryland Medical Center for a suspected case of Ebola does not have the deadly disease, but they were taken for testing and treatment in an abundance of caution.
Derek Valcourt explains it's all part of the state's protocols to make sure the disease doesn't spread.
To be clear, doctors say this time was a false alarm---and it likely won't be the last one.
When a person in Maryland who had recently been to West Africa showed at least one symptom of Ebola, state health officials didn't take chances. That person was immediately taken to the University of Maryland Medical Center, one of the three Maryland hospitals prepared to handle Ebola cases. But tests at the state health lab proved it was not a case of Ebola.
"This is all entirely precautionary because what we do not want is people to be fearful," said Jacqueline Dubal-Harvey, City Health Department.
What happened Monday follows new state protocols. Anyone flying in from the Ebola-affected West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia enters the US, federal agents interview them, take their temperatures and share their information with their destination state.
In Maryland, health officials will have daily contact with all those people during the up to 21 day risk period in which Ebola symptoms could develop. That means in that time period, if any of those monitored people get sick---even with a common cold---they are likely to trigger precautionary action, even potential isolation, until Ebola can be ruled out for certain, as was the case Monday.
"There will be lots of false positives," said Governor Martin O'Malley.
He says with the start of flu season, he expects many more suspect cases will need to be investigated and ruled out as Ebola. The governor insists flu shots will help.
"And the fewer people in Maryland that come down with the flu, the fewer false positives we'll have to run down," O'Malley said.
State health officials say right now, they are monitoring as many as a couple dozen people in Maryland who have recently traveled to the Ebola-affected West African countries.
Maryland released its own set of guidelines for monitoring at risk travelers. Those new rules are close to guidelines released by the CDC. For the policy for returning travelers from affected countries, click here. For more information, click here.
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