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Terror in Dallas Ebola apartment: Victim's family forcibly quarantined under armed guard as cleaning crews refuse to go in

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Victim’s family quarantined under armed guard as cleaning crews refuse to enter, leaving the four living in a contaminated apartment

  • The confinement order, which also bans visitors, was imposed after the family failed to comply with a request to stay home in Dallas, Texas
  • Home where Ebola patient Thomas Duncan’s girlfriend Louise Troh, her teenager and two adult nephews are being held is STILL not sanitized 
  • Cleaning crew turned away on Thursday for not having proper permits  
  • Youngor Jallah, daughter of Louise Troh, is also under quarantine with her husband and four young children
  • Ms Jallah called 911 on Sunday for Mr Duncan after recognizing his fever and red eyes as symptoms of Ebola
  • She warned EMTs not to enter without gloves and face-masks
  • Ms Jallah attempted to sanitize her mother’s apartment with grocery-store disinfectant and sprinkling Clorox on furniture 
  • She also advised her mother against sleeping in the bed where the sick man had been staying 
  • 100 people being sought who had possible contact with Duncan – 12 have confirmed contact including five children   

By David Mccormack and Louise Boyle for MailOnline and Dan Bates For Mailonline In Dallas, Texas

Published: 00:47 EST, 3 October 2014 | Updated: 07:26 EST, 3 October 2014

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The Ebola victim’s family are quarantined under police guard today as it emerged that a cleaning crew had turned back from the apartment on Thursday, leaving the relatives trapped in the contaminated home where the patient had fallen desperately ill.

The confinement order, which also bans visitors, was imposed after Thomas Duncan’s girlfriend, her son and two adult nephews failed to comply with a request to stay home, according to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.

The order would ensure the group can be closely monitored for signs of the disease at the North Dallas home, Texas State Health Commissioner David Lakey said. 

However there were growing concerns over the conditions the family were living in after Mr Duncan’s girlfriend, Louise Troh, told CNN on Thursday that his sweat-soaked sheets were still on the bed.

A cleaning crew was rushed to the scene by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) following the shocking revelation – only for them to be turned away by Texas authorities because they do not have the correct permits. 

The crew, contracted by the county and state, would return on Friday to complete the job – a full five days after Mr Duncan was rushed by ambulance to Texas Presbyterian hospital after showing the contagious symptoms of Ebola.

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Two patrol officers watch over the apartment in North Dallas on Thursday where family members of Ebola patient Thomas Duncan were being held under legally-ordered quarantine 

An unidentified man peeks behind the door on Thursday after allowing Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins to enter their home at The Ivy Apartments where Thomas Duncan, who was infected with the deadly Ebola virus, was staying with family

 

America’s first Ebola victim Thomas Duncan, 42, may have had contact with around 100 people before being quarantined over the deadly virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday

The family must be relocated before the cleanup can begin but officials had no information on where the family would go.

Louise Troh said Thursday that she is tired of being locked up and wants federal health authorities to decontaminate her home. 

American Red Cross representatives delivered food to the apartment on Thursday and the North Texas Food Bank said it sent cereal, tuna, produce and other supplies.

Private security guards and sheriff’s deputies blocked the entrance to the 300-unit apartment complex to dozens of reporters.

Texas health officials expanded their efforts to contain the virus, reaching out to as many as 100 people who may have had direct contact with Duncan or someone close to him. 

The first Ebola diagnosis in the nation has raised concerns about whether the disease that has killed 3,300 people in West Africa could spread in the U.S. Federal health officials say they are confident they can keep it in check. 

The number of people under quarantine has also increased. Louise Troh’s daughter Youngor Jallah, her husband and four children are also under quarantine at her apartment, a short distance from her mother’s home.  

Ms Jallah visited her mother’s home at Ivy Apartments on Sunday morning to check on the condition of 42-year-old Mr Duncan, a man she calls ‘Daddy’. 

She told The Washington Post that she found him in bed, fully dressed and shivering. After going to buy him a blanket, she brought Mr Duncan some hot tea which is when she noticed the redness of his eyes, a well-publicized sign of Ebola.

With his temperature at 102F, Ms Jallah called 911 and described his symptoms which included severe diarrhea, fever and shivering. 

The mother-of-four advised the EMTs not to enter the apartment without gloves and face masks, warning them that her stepfather had recently traveled to the U.S. from Africa.   

The man opens the door for Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins (left) and two other women at the quarantined apartment where Thomas Eric Duncan was staying when he began suffering Ebola symptons

Judge Jenkins is seen walking away from the front door on Thursday evening. He has come under fire for allowing the sweat-soaked sheets Duncan lay on while contagious with Ebola to be left in the apartment

An ambulance took Mr Duncan to the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital while she followed in her minivan along with several family members.

Ms Jallah brought along the blanket that she had bought earlier for him and which he had had draped around himself until the ambulance had arrived.

After many hours of sitting in the ER waiting room she was finally informed that Mr Duncan had been isolated and that no visitors were allowed.

The family were not informed that Mr Duncan had suspected Ebola. No one took away the blanket which the contagious man had used or advised the family about what to do next.

Ms Jallah returned to her mother’s apartment, sprayed disinfectant and sprinkled liquid Clorox on the furniture. She told her mother not to sleep on the bed and bought sanitizers, a makeshift mattress and two new blankets.

Armed officers watch closely outside the building with others as Texas officials visit the family after coming under fire for leaving them in the unclean apartment with little information on how to handle the health crisis

Jallah’s next meeting with health workers was on Wednesday night when she and her husband Yah were visited at their second-floor apartment by officials from the state and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

The officials took the temperature of everyone who lives in the apartment – Jallah, her husband and their four children – a daughter and three sons, ages 2 to 11.

The night before Duncan was taken to the hospital,the children had stayed over at their grandmothers and slept on her couches.

The health workers told the family not to leave their apartment, but when Jallah explained that they didn’t have any food they told her that she and her husband could go to the store. 

The two health officials also said they would return every day to see how the family was doing. So far no one has displayed the disease’s symptoms.

Sally Nuran, far right, in front of microphones, manager of the Ivy Apartments, responds to questions from reporters during a news conference at the main entrance to the complex on Thursday

The quarantined family members of Ebola sufferer Thomas Eric Duncan had tried to escape their Dallas apartment after being told they had to stay inside because they were at risk, having been around Mr Duncan while he was contagious

Up to 100 people in Texas are believed to have had contact with Ebola sufferer Thomas Duncan since he developed symptoms of the deadly virus last Thursday at 10pm.

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital earlier reported that Duncan had come for treatment on Friday – but the new timeline adds an extra day to how long he was out in public.

The patient’s quarantined girlfriend Louise Troh told CNN on Thursday that she had not been told what to do with the soiled linens used by Duncan when he was ill and had not been given food.

The woman has been legally ordered to stay inside her Dallas apartment with her 13-year-old child and two nephews, who are both in their twenties, as they came in direct contact with Duncan.

None of the four people quarantined are showing Ebola symptoms but Troh, who works as a home healthcare aide, has been taking the group’s temperature every hour.

Among the 12 people being closely monitored were five children – who attend four area schools. 

The four schools affected introduced safety measures on Wednesday including cleaning teams and extra nurses to monitor any students suffering from fever or flu-like symptoms

An unidentified man exits the apartment under quarantine for Ebola today to pick up food that was delivered by The Red Cross in Dallas, Texas. The young man is wearing a shirt that reads: ‘YOLO, you only live once’

Panic-stricken parents in the area pulled their kids out of classes after they received Ebola fact sheets and notes which said ‘everything is fine’. Schools were also scrubbed down and extra nurses brought in to monitor any students with fevers or flu-like symptoms. 

The CDC jumped into action on Thursday afternoon, sending a contract team to clear the bedding, provide food and power-wash the apartment complex – a full four days after Mr Duncan was rushed to hospital in an ambulance after suffering vomiting, diarrhea, fever and sweating.  

On Thursday afternoon, it was revealed that four sheriff’s deputies, a health director and a doctor, went into the quarantined apartment without protection, NBC5 reported. 

Two Douglas County Sheriff’s Office patrol cars have now been cordoned off and the deputies have been told to seal their uniforms in bags and go home. 

Mr Duncan arrived from Liberia, an Ebola ‘hot zone’ in West Africa, on September 20. He began to develop Ebola symptoms – the point when the disease becomes contagious – on September 23. 

An unidentified male peeks his head through a curtain inside the apartment where Ebola sufferer Thomas Eric Duncan was staying when he became contagious in Dallas, Texas

He was sent home from his first hospital trip with antibiotics despite telling two medical staff he had flown in from Liberia. His partner Louise said she doesn’t believe he left the apartment in this time but she cannot be certain because she was at work. 

His condition deteriorated and he was rushed to hospital via ambulance on Sunday and quarantined.

However it was alleged on Thursday that Mr Duncan lied on an airport questionnaire about not having any contact with an infected person, authorities said on Thursday. 

Mr Duncan filled out a series of questions about his health and activities before leaving on his journey to Dallas, Texas on September 19. On the form he answered no to every question.

Among other questions, the form asked whether Duncan had cared for an Ebola patient or touched the body of anyone who had died in an area affected by Ebola.  

Family of Dallas Ebola patient not showing symptoms

 

Judge Jenkins, who is coordinating the Ebola response in Texas, faces question from the media at a press conference after members of Duncan’s family were quarantined 

The Red Cross delivered boxes of food to the quarantined apartment in North Dallas, Texas on Thursday afternoon after Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan’s partner, Louise, said the CDC had not informed her of the plan to look after them 

Residents reaction on possible exposure to Ebola patient

 

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Mr Duncan had helped carried a neighbor’s pregnant daughter who was dying from Ebola.

The Liberian government said on Thursday that it planned to prosecute Mr Duncan over the lies while the country’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told CBC today that she was ‘very angry’ that Mr Duncan had left Liberia after being exposed to Ebola and that his actions were ‘unpardonable’. 

President Sirleaf also said that she hoped that no one else would contract the potentially deadly virus which has ravaged her country. 

And despite Duncan spreading Ebola to the U.S., a U.N. spokesman said on Thursday that air travel to and from the West African countries affected by the Ebola virus should continue.

It also appears that Mr Duncan did not mention his close contact with a severe case of Ebola to his partner Louise, with whom he has one child. 

The U.S. Ebola outbreak stands at one case after Mr Duncan was diagnosed on Tuesday. West Africa has been blighted by the disease since last year, with close to 4,000 deaths and thousands more infected 

She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper during a telephone interview on Thursday that the couple did not discuss Ebola and she initially thought Duncan had malaria when she brought him to Texas Presbyterian.

Louise does not believe she has Ebola because she did not come in contact with bodily fluids. She said Mr Duncan was ‘prideful’ in taking care of himself when he became sick. 

She also did not believe he had thrown up repeatedly outside the apartment on Sunday, as a neighbor reported, and wished to reassure her neighbors.

Meanwhile, the number of family members who came in contact with Mr Duncan while he was contagious remains unclear, CNN reported. 

Louise’s daughter, who does not live at the quarantined apartment, was the person who called an ambulance for Mr Duncan on Sunday after she came to her mother’s home to bring him tea and found him feverish and shivering.

It is unclear if she traveled with him in the ambulance or came in close contact with the infected man. 

Louise told CNN that she has other children, who are not currently living at the home but elsewhere in Dallas and also a son at college. They had not come in contact with Mr Duncan, she said.

Gabriella Beltran, right, walks from Hotchkiss Elementary with her children Valeria Curranza, Joseph Manuel Beltran and Oliver Torres in Dallas on Wednesday after parents were asked to pick their children up early. Children who were in close contact with the man who has Ebola attend the school – causing some panicked parents to temporarily remove their kids

A map of North Dallas in Texas reveals the proximity of where Mr Duncan was staying in relation to the hospital and schools as officials said today the Ebola patient may have come in contact with up to 100 people

The family who are isolated in the apartment have been told they face criminal charges if they leave the apartment or accept visitors. 

Dallas Judge Clay Jenkins told ABC today that a legal quarantine order was placed on the home after the family tried to break out of the apartment. 

However MailOnline reported on Wednesday that three individuals – a man in his twenties with a roll of garbage bags and two women – came and left the apartment. 

Louise said that she has been given no instructions by the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) on how to dispose of the contaminated bedding in the home or what the family would do for food.

She said that two CDC workers who visited the home on Wednesday brought sandwiches but they had no other food.  

At a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Judge Jenkins was quick to respond to those claims, saying that several days supply of food was being delivered to the quarantined group and contaminated material would be removed by biohazard experts.

He added that the family were being treated with the ‘utmost respect and dignity’.

The Red Cross were seen delivering food on Thursday to the family’s second story apartment. 

A young man, who appeared to be one of the adult nephews under quarantine, appeared on the balcony to bring the food inside, dressed in a T-shirt bearing the logo ‘YOLO – You Only Live Once’.  

Mr Duncan’s partner Louise told CNN on Thursday that she is very worried but keeps praying and has spoken Mr Duncan via telephone.

Texas health officials said around 100 people may have come into contact with Mr Duncan and they are being questioned.

Authorities have confirmed 12 people including five children had direct contact with Mr Duncan and are being closely monitored.

Some parents have pulled their children out of four affected Dallas schools after learning that five students may have come into contact with Mr Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S.

School administrators appealed for calm as none of the children have shown symptoms and are being told to stay at home, where they will likely remain for three weeks. 

‘How did this happen?’ Concerned brother of Ebola victim speaks

 

Parents and pupils at schools in Dallas where children were possibly infected with Ebola said that they were appalled at how the crisis was being handled. 

The schools were named as Tasby Middle School, Dan D. Rogers Elementary, Lowe Elementary and Conrad High School. 

Parents and students were only told on Wednesday that their schools had been affected – a day after the public were informed that a patient had the deadly virus.

They were given a letter and a fact sheet but were told it was ‘all fine’ and that children had to remain in school. 

But Marcie Pardo and other parents left L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary indicating that they were taking no chances and would keep their children home for the rest of the week. 

‘Kids pretty much touch everything. Not everyone washes their hands,’ Pardo said. ‘It’s the contagious part that gets me worried.’

Nikki Turner, 31, who has a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old at Tasby Middle School and Conrad High told MailOnline on Thursday that the school authorities ‘could be doing a lot more’.

She said: ‘All I’ve been told was in a phone call on Wednesday when they said the children who had it are being taken out and it was all OK.

‘I had to take my children to hospital last night for blood tests to make sure they’re alright. They are not telling us enough, they need to tell me more.’   

A letter from Tasby Middle School on Wednesday aimed to reassure parents that the school was taking Ebola precautions

Candis Holt, a mother of a kindergarten student at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary school, shows a piece of paper handed to her by the school with frequently asked questions about the Ebola virus after she dropped her child off today

Ebola patient had contact with school children – Gov Perry

 

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