Texas finally places restrictions on Ebola healthcare workers
By RYAN GORMAN
Texas health officials appear to be finally getting their ducks in a row after weeks of bungling a single Ebola patient that quickly turned into a crisis.
A memorandum issued Thursday places restrictions on travel, sets more stringent monitoring guidelines and even offers voluntary hospital admittance to 75 care workers, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by AOL News.
The memo came after both Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, health care workers who contracted Ebola while caring for deceased patient Thomas Duncan, were transferred to medical facilities outside Texas.
Pham and Vinson's relocations came after multiple nurses blasted Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for not having the proper procedures and equipment in place to help protect workers from contracting the lethal virus.
All health care workers who entered Duncan's room have been prohibited from traveling on commercial transportation for 21 days from the moment they first made the encounter.
The list of banned travel modes includes airplane, ship, long-distance bus or train. Vinson infamously embarked on a round-trip flight from Dallas to Cleveland, returning the day before she was admitted to a Dallas hospital.
The use of local taxis or busses is discouraged.
Nurses and doctors who cared for Duncan have been forced to submit to a stricter monitoring regime that includes twice daily monitoring sessions with temperature checks. One of the observations must be face-to-face with a healthcare provider.
Those healthcare workers also banned from going to bars and restaurants, grocery stores, theaters or any other location "where members of the public congregate.
Healthcare workers concerned about the possibility of having contracted the disease have been offered the opportunity to voluntarily admit themselves to the same Dallas hospital that Pham and Vinson were rescued from.
A Dallas healthcare worker is currently quarantined on a cruise ship.
Related links:
Air travelers wary of Ebola fears seen with surgical masks ... and a HAZMAT suit
CDC: Second Dallas nurse with Ebola was on flight day before diagnosis
Nina Pham, Ebola-stricken nurse, being flown to Washington
