This morning, 33 year old Dr. Craig Spencer is in an isolation unit at Manhattan’s Bellevue hospital. His is the first case of the deadly Ebola virus to appear in NYC and the fourth diagnosed in the United States.
Bellevue Hospital Center is one of eight hospitals statewide designated by Governor Cuomo as part of an Ebola preparedness plan.
In recent statements the mayor pointed out that the city has adhered to every protocol regarding Spencer’s case. “We want to state at the outset there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed,” “he said. “We are as ready as one could be.”
Dr. Spenc
er returned from Guinea on October 12, where he came into contact with Ebola patients through his work with Doctors Without Borders. He exhibited no symptoms until Thursday morning, when he began experiencing fatigue, nausea, pain and fever.
Doctors Without Borders said it provides guidelines for staff members returning from Ebola assignments. ”The individual engaged in regular health monitoring and reported this development immediately,” the group said in a statement.
CNN has published a timeline of Craig Spencer’s movements since he got back from the West African nation and began exhibiting symptoms, which include jogging, taking the subway, riding in a taxi, and visiting a bowling alley in Brooklyn. A handful of people close to him, including his fiancé and two friends, have been placed under quarantine and are being monitored. His Manhattan apartment has been sealed off and the bowling alley is currently closed to the public.
Dr. Irwin Redlener, Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University and a special adviser to Mayor de Blasio, minimized the risk to the general public, but emphasized need for the city to move swiftly into action.
“New York has mobilized not only a world-class health department, but has full engagement of many other agencies that need to be on the response team,” he said.
