Associated Press and staff report
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Yesterday’s revelation that the latest person in the United States to test positive for Ebola was in Ohio brings this state under scrutiny for health concerns. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has requested and the U.S. Center for Disease Control has agreed to send to send key CDC staff to Ohio support Ohio’s state and local Ebola response efforts.
They were expected to arrive as soon as Wednesday evening.
“We appreciate the additional resources that CDC is providing Ohio to ensure good federal, state and local coordination of Ebola response efforts,” said Dr. Mary DiOrio, state epidemiologist and interim chief of the ODH Bureau of Prevention and Health Promotion. “CDC staff will join state and local public health staff already on the ground.”
State public health officials were alerted by the CDC Wednesday morning that a Dallas nurse who tested positive for Ebola was in Ohio Oct. 10-13. Twenty-nine-year-old Amber Vinson stayed at the home of her parents in Tallmadge before flying from Cleveland back to Dallas on Monday. Vinson had treated the Liberian man who died of Ebola in a Dallas hospital.
Health officials say one person in Ohio has been voluntarily quarantined after having household contact with Vinson. That person is not currently showing symptoms. Two large Cleveland hospital systems say some of their nurses and other employees were on a flight from Dallas with a Texas nurse days before she was diagnosed with Ebola. The Cleveland Clinic and The MetroHealth System say the employees are on paid leave as a precaution while their health is monitored.
The Ohio Department of Health has issued additional recommendations for dealing with Ebola to health care providers and health department officials across the state. Interim Crawford County Health Commissioner Tim Hollinger has been in contact with officials from the Ohio Department of Health and the U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
The state recommends a 21-day quarantine for those who’ve had direct physical contact with an infected person without wearing protective equipment. Quarantines will be enforced by health officials.
Individuals who’ve been within a three-foot radius of an infected person for a prolonged period should report their temperatures twice a day, once witnessed by a public health official and once reported by phone.
Those who’ve had no direct contact but have been in the vicinity of an infected person, as indicated by a health official, should self-monitor.
For more information about Ebola, visit the ODH website at www.odh.ohio.gov or the CDC website at www.cdc.gov.