Texas health officials are cheering the end of its brush with Ebola, as the last person linked to three patients diagnosed in Dallas will reach the end of a monitoring period for the viral disease late Friday.
Officials had to check on people on the list twice-daily for 21 days, the incubation period for Ebola.
The mix of health care workers, household and community members that had contact with Texas Ebola patients or medical waste totaled 177 people, according to the Texas Department of Health Services. The last person to come off the list Friday is a hospital worker who handled medical waste on Oct. 17.
“We’re happy to reach this milestone, but our guard stays up,” agency Commissioner David Lakey said. “We reached this point through teamwork and meticulous monitoring, and we’ll continue to be vigilant to protect Texas from Ebola.”
Health officials had to retrace the virus’ potential path through Dallas after the arrival of Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian national, in late September.
Duncan showed symptoms of Ebola but was released from the hospital and readmitted days later. He died Oct. 8, and two nurses who treated him tested positive for the disease.
Both nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, were treated and cured at sophisticated medical centers.
Texas officials said some of the most recent people to come off their monitoring list were passengers on a Dallas-to-Cleveland flight that Ms. Vinson took shortly before she was diagnosed.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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