Ebola scare lands in Northeast Ohio: The Big Story

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Ebola fears turned on a dime here Wednesday, less than 24 hours after health officials said Ohioans had little reason to worry about the deadly virus.

"Ebola outbreak unlikely in Ohio," read The Plain Dealer's top morning headline, based on calming words offered the day before by a state administrator and doctor.

Then came the alarming word that Amber Joy Vinson, a nurse who had cared for a now-deceased Ebola patient in Dallas, had flown into Cleveland last week and visited family in the Akron area. A day after returning to Dallas, she was diagnosed with Ebola.

President Barack Obama and Ohio Gov. John Kasich cleared their schedules to keep tabs on the situation. County and city leaders in Cleveland and Akron aimed to keep a lid on public panic. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scrambling to fully grasp the impact, soothing headlines from earlier gave way to urgent questions about who Vinson encountered and where she visited while in Northeast Ohio.

"We've been preparing with our local health care partners for this possibility for several months and are putting that preparation into action now," said Dr. Mary DiOrio, state epidemiologist and interim chief of the Ohio Department of Health's Bureau of Prevention and Health. "Summit County's health department responded quickly and we're in constant contact with them to give them the support and resources they need."

One of the most immediate concerns is identifying the 130 other passengers on Vinson's return flight on Monday, Oct. 13 – on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143.

Vinson's travels

Vinson, 29, was among the healthcare workers at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who treated Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died Oct. 8 of Ebola. Vinson was actively involved in his care. She drew his blood, inserted catheters and was with him Sept. 30, the day he tested positive for the virus, The Associated Press reported.

Duncan was the first person diagnosed with Ebola on United States soil, though it's believed he was infected with the virus before traveling to Texas last month.

On Oct. 10, according to the Ohio Department of Health, Vinson flew from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, on Frontier Flight 1142. Vinson, given her exposure to Duncan, should not have been allowed to travel on a commercial airline, CDC Director Tom Frieden said Wednesday.

It was unclear whether Vinson was aware of such restrictions.

Vinson graduated from Akron's Firestone High School in 2003 and, later, with a nursing degree from Kent State University. She once worked for Summa Akron City Hospital.

She had returned to her hometown last weekend to help her mother plan a wedding and stayed in suburban Tallmadge. Summit County health officials are conducting interviews to determine Vinson's whereabouts when she was visiting. One of Vinson's family members has voluntarily quarantined himself in a Tallmadge home.

On Monday evening, Vinson flew back to Dallas, again through Hopkins, on Frontier Flight 1143. At the time, officials said, Vinson had a temperature of 99.5 degrees, below the 100.5 degrees considered symptomatic of Ebola. Other symptoms include muscle pain, vomiting and bleeding. They can appear up to 21 days after initial exposure.

Ebola is spread through close contact with blood and other bodily fluids. Simply being close to someone with the virus – in an airplane, for example, is not enough to put you at risk. The virus is not believed to be contagious until symptoms are present.

Officials said Vinson's symptoms didn't show until Tuesday, by which time she was back in Texas. She was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with Ebola. She is the second nurse involved in Duncan's care to test positive for the virus.

CNN reported late Wednesday that a federal official said Vinson called the CDC before her return flight to Dallas and said she was running a fever. Vinson was not told she could not get on the plane, CNN reports.

How the word spread

The CDC informed Frontier Airlines about Vinson's travels and her positive test for Ebola at 3 a.m. eastern time. Wednesday. Officials with the city of Cleveland, which owns and operates Hopkins airport, said they weren't informed until 6 a.m.

While the Ohio Department of Health went public at 10 a.m., Mayor Frank Jackson didn't brief the public until 2 p.m. – or eight hours after learning of the scare.

"We don't want to deal with rumors and speculation," the mayor said at his City Hall news conference. "We could have had an immediate press conference and not have had all the facts. ... The CDC is doing what they do. We needed to talk to them to separate facts from fiction. Don't read anything into it other than what it is."

Cuyahoga County Executive Ed FitzGerald and Health Commissioner Terry Allan also briefed reporters Wednesday afternoon. The county's emergency operations center opened at 11 a.m. in response to the scare, FitzGerald said.

In the confusion of Wednesday's breaking news, Kent State backpedaled from an earlier confirmation that Vinson had visited campus while in Ohio. But three KSU employees did have direct contact with Vinson while she was visiting, and at least one of those employees has been on the campus since Monday, a spokesman said.

"We do not see that there is risk of any nature that is a level that should alarm anyone at the moment," KSU President Beverly Warren said Wednesday.

Unanswered questions

State health officials are working with local health departments in Northeast Ohio to track down anyone who might have come into contact with Vinson.

Interviews to determine Vinson's whereabouts are expected to take time, said Summit County Public Health Medical Director Margo Erme.

"We have been in there all day to see if there are additional contacts and to see where those additional contacts may be, and also the nature of those contacts," Erme said.

The CDC, meanwhile, granted Kasich's request for manpower to assist.

"The reason you need more people is that the contact-tracing is labor intensive," said Kasich spokesman Scott Milburn. "It's good old-fashioned gumshoe."

School districts in Cleveland and Solon were being cautious. A Cleveland Schools teacher at Cranwood School is staying home after the district learned she might have had contact with a person infected with Ebola. The district did not identify the teacher the person infected. The school building was being disinfected overnight.

Solon Schools canceled classes at two buildings for Thursday after learning a staff member might have traveled on the same aircraft used by Vinson, although not during the same flight. Solon Middle School and Parkside Elementary School are closed so the buildings can be disinfected.

At Hopkins, officials have implemented an "infectious disease protocol," said Airport Director Ricky Smith. Employees are working to cleanse and sterilize any area the nurse might have passed through as she went through the airport and security.

As for the plane, Frontier Airlines potentially flew hundreds of passengers on it before Vinson's positive test became public. On Tuesday, the plane made five trips – involving stops in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Nurses from the Cleveland Clinic and MetroHealth Medical Center were on the plane with Vinson when she flew from Dallas to Cleveland on Oct. 10, the hospitals said. The employees have been placed on paid leave while their health is monitored for possible symptoms.

The plane had been cleaned and decontaminated several times after news of Vinson's diagnosis and had been scheduled to fly Wednesday to Atlanta, then Denver.

But the flight to Atlanta ultimately was canceled.

Frontier flew the plane back to Denver, where the airliner has its headquarters. Frontier has put the six crew members who were on the flight with Vinson on paid leave for 21 days as a precautionary measure.

Vinson was flown to Atlanta on Wednesday evening for treatment at Emory University Hospital.

Staff from The Plain Dealer and Northeast Ohio Media Group contributed to this story.

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