The New Jersey Department of Health says a health care worker that had been quarantine after developing a fever Friday evening upon returning from treating Ebola patients in West Africa has tested negative for the Ebola virus.
The New Jersey Department of Health says the worker remains in isolation and under observation at University Hospital in Newark.
According to the New Jersey Department of Health, the worker had no symptoms upon arriving at Newark Liberty International Airport Friday morning.
The news comes after Governor Andrew Cuomo joined Christie on Friday to outline new protocols when dealing with people flying in from West Africa.
They include an automatic 21-day quarantine for any at-risk travelers who have had contact with someone infected with Ebola. Others will have a protocol developed to fit their particular circumstance.
New York and New Jersey are two of five states with airports accepting flights from West Africa.
Cuomo says they talked to the CDC and agreed that states have the right to establish their own guidelines for the screenings.
“We believe it is in the state of New York and state of New Jersey’s legal rights to control access to their borders. We will establish an interview and screening process to determine an individual’s risk level by considering the geographic area of origin and the level of exposure to the virus,” Cuomo said.
“These actions that were taken today I believe are necessary to protect the public health of the people of New Jersey and New York and at the state level of both states,” Christie said.
Speaking to reporters Friday at the Office of Emergency Management’s headquarters in Brooklyn, Mayor Bill de Blasio reiterated that the disease can not be contracted casually and that city residents should go about their business as usual.
The mayor referred to the situation as being a “health crisis” and that all people suspected of being at risk for Ebola must cooperate. He also urged all city residents to get a flu shot in order to reduce the number of cases of people who might display symptoms similar to Ebola.
“It sounds counter-intuitive at first, but it’s very important because when you have the flu, it can seem like some of the same symptoms as Ebola,” de Blasio said. “Every New Yorker who gets a flu shot, not only does it help prevent flu for them and their family, it also helps our medical teams.
The mayor’s remarks came as Dr. Craig Spencer undergoes treatment at Bellevue Hospital.
The 33-year-old had been working with Ebola patients in the West African country of Guinea and returned to the U.S. on Friday, October 17.
City officials say Spencer called 911 around 10 a.m. Thursday after developing a 100.3-degree fever, not 103 as was first reported, and was taken to Bellevue, where he was placed in isolation.
His Ebola diagnosis came back later that night and has since been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control.
“We know that the patient continues to be stable at Bellevue Hospital, where he remains hospitalized on the isolation unit in an intensive care unit setting, and so we are pleased that he continues to remain in stable condition,” said city Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett.
A company contracted to handle medical waste finished cleaning out Spencer’s Hamilton Heights apartment Friday night.
The materials taken out of the unit will be examined by the CDC.
“It looks like someone’s moving,” said one of Spencer’s neighbors. “I mean, they have plastic barrels for waste and what have you. But it’s nothing to be concerned about.”
“I’m more concerned about him than I am for myself,” said another. “I mean, he’s the one with Ebola.”
Cellphone video was taken from inside by Bio Recovery Corp, the crew that cleaned out Spencer’s apartment.
Their crews arrived early in the morning with cleaning supplies.
Flyers were distributed in the area explaining the facts and symptoms of Ebola and what people can do if an individual is suspected of being infected.
Ebola is transmitted only when someone shows symptoms, and Bassett says Spencer displayed no symptoms throughout his travels or while making his way around the city.
City health officials stressed that Spencer took his own temperature twice daily since returning to the city last Friday JFK Airport and being screened there.
They also say his low-grade fever of 100.3 likely means he was not highly contagious, although officials are still trying to track down people he may have come into contact with.
Bassett says on October 21, Spencer walked the High Line, visited the nearby Blue Bottle coffee shop and ate at The Meatball Shop on Greenwich Street.
The next day, he went for a run along Riverside Drive and visited a Williamsburg bowling alley called The Gutter.
“We are aware that he went on a three-mile jog, a sign that he was feeling quite well, and he also took the subway system. We know that he’s ridden on the A train, the number 1 train, the L train,” Bassett told reporters Thursday.
The Gutter Bowling Alley remains temporarily closed.
It will be reopened after voluntarily undergoing a cleaning by the same crew that cleaned Spencer’s apartment.
Though health department officials had said the facility was safe to reopen, the owners decided to go ahead with the cleaning as a precaution.
Health officials assessed the Blue Bottle and The Meatball Shop locations Friday and gave them the all clear to reopen.
Spencer’s fiancee and two friends have also been quarantined but have not shown any symptoms.
A New York State Nurses Association representative said they need to be prepared to treat Ebola patients.
Lisa Baum told NY1 that while the chances of the average New Yorker contracting the disease remain slim, nurses face an increased risk.
She said it’s important for nurses to know how to remain safe when treating a patient.
“The proper procedures for donning and doffing, which means putting on and taking off of personal protective equipment, is very complicated, and there is a high risk for contamination of the health care worker when they’re removing personal protective equipment,” Baum said. “So there needs to be a lot of training and a lot of hands-on practice on how to do that safely.
Baum said any health care worker who is in contact with a person diagnosed with the disease is monitored so that any symptoms they might show are caught early.
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