Bloomberg – by Kelly Gilblom and Harry R. Weber
At least one ill passenger was pulled off an airplane that arrived at New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport from Brussels today by federal health officials and emergency responders, amid fears of Ebola spreading in the U.S.
Passengers on United Airlines flight 998 were kept in their seats for almost two hours as quarantine officers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention removed the sick person from the plane, according to statements by the CDC and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
“The flight ended at 12:15 p.m.,” said Erica Dumas, a Port Authority spokeswoman, in a telephone interview. The CDC and EMS “responded and evaluated the situation.”
The passenger was vomiting on the plane, one of the early symptoms associated with Ebola. He was taken to University Hospital in Newark, Dumas said. The spokeswoman couldn’t confirm if the passenger or a daughter traveling with him came from West Africa, where an Ebola outbreak is raging, or if medical officials were testing him for the deadly virus.
A spokesman at CDC headquarters in Atlanta said he didn’t yet know if Ebola was suspected in the case. “We did go to the plane to assess it,” said Jason McDonald. “That happens; it happens regularly. Someone will come in sick, and a quarantine station officer will meet them and take them off” and get them medical care if it’s needed.
Initial Diagnosis
The hospital will make an initial diagnosis and the federal CDC assists after that, as needed, according to a government health official with knowledge of the case who asked not to be named because the matter is in flux. It’s unclear whether clinicians suspect the passenger has Ebola.
Tiffany Smith, a spokeswoman for University Hospital said the two people who had been transported from Newark were currently being evaluated. She did not have further details.
The plane, a Boeing 777 with a capacity of 266, was unloaded at 1:50 pm, according to Dumas. “They were taking all precautions,” he said. The CDC told other passengers to monitor themselves for certain symptoms and seek care if they get sick. They were allowed to continue their travel, though health workers may collect contact information from some people, said the official.
A call and an e-mail to United were not immediately returned.
Worries about the virus, which has infected about 7,500 people in Africa, killing half, have escalated in the U.S. after Thomas Eric Duncan, recently in Liberia in West Africa, flew to Dallas, where he showed symptoms and was eventually confirmed as having the deadly disease.
Duncan tested positive for Ebola on Sept. 30 and is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital. He arrived in the U.S. on Sept. 20, started showing symptoms on Sept. 24 and was not isolated until Sept. 28. He is now listed in critical condition, downgraded from serious.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kelly Gilblom in New York at kgilblom@bloomberg.net; Harry R. Weber in Houston at hweber14@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Reg Gale at rgale5@bloomberg.net
“The passenger was vomiting on the plane, one of the early symptoms associated with Ebola”
It’s also one of the early symptoms associated with food poisoning.
But to diagnosis this as a potential Ebola case increases the tempo of fear. Soon people will be afraid to leave their homes, let alone travel. Sheeple will fear the thought of going to the movies, a restaurant, vacation destinations, or attending dissenting Occupy Movements.
Parents will pull their kids from Public Schools and home school them; people will fear sitting in the Doctor’s office waiting room with other sick patients; people will fear touching produce in a food store and absolutely panic if someone near them sneezes or farts. When all of these fears start to diminish they will use bleeding, Muslim-martyr crisis actors to absolutely accentuate the DHS terror levels.
The thing that needs to be constantly emphasized: This is just another PTB drill (hoax).
Didn’t take ’em long to figure THIS one out, did it.
Fear factor elevated accordingly.
This was on the news tonight. One passenger said this: “They told us very sternly NOT to take pictures or video”. Like I’ve said for three days now….the word put out by CDC and our government is “keep quiet about suspected Ebola cases, and, when a hospital tests for Ebola and it’s positive?…..keep it quiet.” Word is being passed to news outlets and hospitals to tone down the Ebola scare. In the name of “National Security”. You people had better figure out what your going to do when this virus really takes off on Black Friday and the Thanksgiving travel weekend. That’s when it’s really going to spread. My guess is ….”they now admit to only 1 positive case in Dallas. I think there is 7 positive cases and 300 exposed people…right now…today. By Christmas the number of exposed Americans will be 10,000. Good luck.
Joe– If what you believe is true, then what can you do? Are you going to start wearing Tyvek protective gear and a filtered mask to go outside?
IMHO, the Powers That Be would not allow a ELE-virus loose, which they could succumb to. Nor would they trust a vaccine for protection because the Elite eat their own as they step on each other to gain a higher power status.
There most likely will be a virus released… but not until they have completed their practice runs (drills). The way people panic on merely a drill, tells me that TPTB won’t have to kill any of the 99%, because we will hysterically kill-off each other before the pandemic even starts.
Now I can better understand why the DHS drillmasters refer to sheeple as “Zombies”.
Amazingly enough “barf bags” have been on airplanes for years and years simply because some people get air sick. Just because the person was vomiting doesn’t mean it’s ebola! I understand the caution but holy smokes the panic is getting worse than the problem. It is always better to stay calm and use your brains than to panic and run like a herd of freakin’ deer.
I couldn’t agree with you more, Jean. It’s only a matter of time before we see people wearing N-95 surgical masks at work and in public (which by the way, won’t work with Ebola).
But look how obedient this “alleged” pandemic has made us. All the other problems we had to worry about are trivialized or are rendered to be non-existent by comparison.
Don’t worry though, because our Government will protect us with vaccines, which they are manufacturing 24/7 to insure that we will all receive a jab in the arm.
It just makes me want to throw-up… 😮