Dallas Ebola: Police search for homeless man who rode in ambulance after first patient

| WTF News |

The Ebola mess in Dallas continues to show disturbing signs of possible virus spread and sprawling containment efforts. Local news is reporting that Dallas area police are looking for a man who is though to be homeless because he may need to be monitored after traveling in the same ambulance as the first US Ebola patient. Recall this is the same ambulance Dallas paramedics complained about after they worked a whole shift in it with no notice given about the possible presence of Ebola as it was not taken out of service after the first call.

thescoopblog.dallasnews.com
Dallas County law enforcement officers are looking for a man who rode in the Dallas Fire-Rescue ambulance that had carried a man stricken with Ebola to Texas Health Presbyterian hospital.

County Judge Clay Jenkins said Dallas police and county sheriff’s deputies are trying to find the man, who reports have suggested is homeless.

Authorities have not released the man’s name.

“We are working to locate the individual and get him to a comfortable, compassionate place where we can monitor him and care for his every need for the full incubation period,” Jenkins said in an emailed statement. “I want to emphasize that he is a low risk individual and we are doing this out of precautionary measures.”

The ambulance was effectively quarantined last week after Thomas Eric Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola. The emergency medical services crew who transported him has been asked to stay home for 21 days or so. All of them have tested negative for Ebola.

Dallas Fire-Rescue officials have said little about the incident. Officials with other EMS agencies noted that it’s standard practice to decontaminate ambulances after they transport a patient.