Dallas Judge: 'Zero Risk' of Ebola in Quarantined Duncan Contacts

Dallas health officials held a press conference Monday morning to brief the public on updates regarding the cases of Ebola virus in the city.

Dallas Co., TX Judge Clay Jenkins began his remarks by praising the efforts of the nine-person disease investigation team at Dallas Health and Human Services.

“The World Health Organization tells us that for each Ebola case that is treated, two more come up,” Jenkins said. “The worry for all of us was that due to the fact that Mr. Duncan was out in the community for some time, that we would have a lot of disease contacts. Well, they were able to find those 48 [people].”

Toward the end of his remarks, Jenkins discussed five Dallas children who were set to return to school Monday morning after being under quarantine for 21 days.

“I want to talk about the five children who will be returning to school, and I want to ask for the community’s help,” Jenkins said.

“These people, part of our community, are integrating back into our community, and I talked to Louise [Troh, Duncan’s wife] last night on the phone, and her feeling for this morning was one of fear, fear of how she and the young men would be accepted, of how they would be treated, of whether they would be seen as disease-carriers or oddities.”

“There is zero risk that any of those people who’ve been marked off the list have Ebola,” Jenkins continued. “They were in contact with a person who had Ebola, and the time period for them to get Ebola has lapsed. It is over. So they do not have Ebola.”

“They are people who have been through an incredible ordeal, and they are people who need our compassion, our respect, and our love. Treat them the way you would want your own family treated if you were in their place and they were in yours.”

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