The 5-year-old child placed in isolation at Bellevue Hospital after developing a fever following a trip to West Africa has tested negative for Ebola.
The child was taken to the hospital Sunday night by an EMS hazmat team, but officials say the patient did not develop a fever until about 7 a.m. Monday.
The child will remain in isolation while further tests are conducted.
The 5-year-old was in one of the infected West African countries within the 21-day incubation period.
As a precaution, the Department of Health was attempting to trace all of the patient’s contacts to identify anyone who may be at potential risk.
Meantime, the health of Ebola patient Dr. Craig Spencer is improving, but he remains in serious condition.
Spencer, 33, contracted the virus while treating Ebola patients in Guinea.
He is being treated in an isolation unit at Bellevue Hospital.
On Saturday, city health officials said he had entered the next phase of his illness, as anticipated, with the appearance of gastrointestinal symptoms.
Officials say he is awake and communicating and seems to be responding well to plasma donated by an Ebola survivor.
Dr. Spencer’s fiancee is currently under home quarantine.
As Governor Andrew Cuomo faces criticism from the White House about Friday’s quarantine announcement, the New Jersey Health Department says nurse Kaci Hickox is being discharged.
Hickox has been quarantined in a tent outside of University Hospital in Newark since testing negative for Ebola early Saturday morning.
She has called her treatment inhumane and now has requested transport to Maine.
The health department says that will be arranged using a private carrier.
Pulling back on his announcement about 21 day quarantine requirements for travelers from West Africa, Cuomo says what he intended is to have returning medical workers quarantined at home, with daily monitoring from health officials.
Hickox was admitted on Friday, after she arrived to Newark airport from West Africa where she was treating Ebola patients.
The state will pick up the tab for any lost compensation if the person quarantined is not receiving a salary from their volunteer organization during that time.
The Obama administration has said it is concerned the policy is “not grounded in science” and could discourage medical workers from traveling to West Africa.
A senior Obama administration official has said the federal government will soon release guidelines for medical workers returning from affected West African nations.
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