Friday, October 17, 2014

BREAKING: Ebola Scare At The Pentagon

Quarantine area at Inova Fairfax Hospital for possible Pentagon Ebola patient. (Photo: NewsChopper 7)

From WTOP:
(Updated at 11:00 a.m.) Arlington County’s hazmat team is on the scene at the Pentagon due to an Ebola scare.

Medics responded to the Pentagon this morning for a report of a woman on a tour bus who was sick and vomiting. When they learned that she had recently arrived from Africa, the hazmat team was called out of “a complete abundance of caution,” Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman told ARLnow.com.

A large portion of the Pentagon south parking lot has been cordoned off with crime tape, and police are telling those who don’t work at the Pentagon to avoid the immediate surrounding area.

The woman has been transported via ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center. The county’s medical director also responded to the call and is at the hospital with the patient, according to scanner traffic.

Layman said the bus was at the Pentagon for a tour of the Pentagon Memorial. Pedestrian and vehicle traffic has been shut down around it.

As of 10:50 a.m., Arlington County was mobilizing its Emergency Operations Center to deal with the incident, according to Arlington County Police spokesman Dustin Sternbeck.

Despite numerous Ebola scares in the United States, there have been fewer than 10 confirmed cases in the country. Today President Obama named an “Ebola czar” to help coordinate the federal response to the outbreak threat.
UPDATE

Right now, the woman is in a quarantine tent outside Virginia Hospital Center - near the helicopter pad. Nobody milling around the tent is in protective gear.

ANOTHER UPDATE

From the WaPo:
Arlington County authorities said a woman who was ill and recently had visited western Africa was taken to the hospital Friday morning and officials blocked off an area around the Pentagon, where she had been visiting.

[...]

“At 9:53 a.m, the patient was taken to the Virginia Hospital Center; however she did not exit the ambulance. ACFD then transported the patient to Fairfax Inova Hospital.”...
Fairfax Inova Hospital is the largest regional hospital in Northern Virginia.

Ongoing updates HERE.

The parking lot and Corridor 2 entrance to the Pentagon remain closed “until further notice,” according to an official speaking on background.

From the latest update:
A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the woman, who has not been publicly identified, works for Total Spectrum, whose website says it is a lobbying and public relations firm. Managing Director Steve Gordon told The Associated Press the Pentagon had contacted him, and he said the woman had not been out of the Washington area.

[...]

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to comment publicly by name, said the woman was on a shuttle bus taking guests to a ceremony for Gen. Joe Dunford, who is taking over as commandant of the Marine Corps. She got off the shuttle before it left the Pentagon lot and then vomited.

Officials notified the FBI and were checking the woman's background and possible travel to West Africa.

According to defense officials, seven Pentagon officers who assisted the woman were being isolated and might be kept in a tent at the Pentagon overnight. Several people who were on the shuttle bus also have been isolated.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Video report from WUSA9

This is kind of a scary situation for fewer than a dozen bus passengers that were being transported from the Pentagon to the Navy yard for a ceremony. Somebody got off the white bus at the Pentagon and began vomiting. Police arrived there, they were concerned about the individual . The individual said that she had been in West Africa, and so that kind of stepped everything up. The bus was escorted by police to 7th and "I" (eye) in SE D.C. The other passengers are being held until they can figure out what the heck is going on.

Always On Watch said...

Was she puking in the Pentagon parking lot?

Always On Watch said...

The Pentagon-bus passengers have now been released and have been told that they can go anywhere they want -- <b.after four hours of being confined inside that bus parked in a street in Southeast D.C.

Anonymous said...

ArlingtonNow, UPDATE
"A tipster with knowledge of the emergency response tells ARLnow.com that the patient recently traveled from the West African nation of Sierra Leone, and that four first responders are being held at the hospital due to possible exposure. That tip could not be immediately confirmed. ..The county’s medical director also responded to the call and is at the hospital with the patient, according to scanner traffic. ..."

****
A bus carrying Marines is quarantined outside DC barracks after a woman who boarded at Pentagon fell ill, told 1st responders she’d been to West Africa - @NBCNews

*****
BusinessInsider: Here Are All The Cases Of Ebola in The US So Far, dated 10/15/2014 @3:18PM
(Reuters) - There have been eight cases of Ebola seen in the United States since the beginning of August.

Thomas Eric Duncan,
Nina Pham,
Amber Vinson,
Ashoka Mukpo,
Nancy Writebol,
Dr. Rick Scra
Dr. Kent Brantly
unidentified American who contracted Ebola in West Africa is still being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta,

"About the same time, the World Health Organization said one of its doctors tested positive for Ebola at a treatment center in Sierra Leone but the cases have not been officially linked and WHO has not identified the physician." [snip] "Hospitals across the United States have been urged to watch for possible cases and to ask patients about their travels to help screen for the virus. Patients have been monitored in Maryland, Massachusetts, Kansas, Washington, Hawaii and Florida, but none tested positive for Ebola.

Anonymous said...

She got off the shuttle before it left the Pentagon parking lot and then vomited.

Here you go AoW: UKDailyMail: Hazmat teams swoop on the Pentagon in Ebola scare: Entrance sealed off after female lobbyist who'd recently been to Africa vomited in parking lot
Oct. 17, 2014 14:44EST
The woman works for Total Spectrum, a lobbying and public relations firm
The woman was on a Metro bus before transferring to a shuttle bus close to the Pentagon, then got off and vomited
The woman, who currently is being quarantined at a hospital in Virginia, said she had been in Liberia two weeks ago.The official said the woman was on a Metro bus, and transferred to a shuttle bus taking guests to a change of responsibility ceremony for General Joe Dunford, who is taking over as commandant of the Marine Corps.




Always On Watch said...

From the latest update:

A military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the woman, who has not been publicly identified, works for Total Spectrum, whose website says it is a lobbying and public relations firm. Managing Director Steve Gordon told The Associated Press the Pentagon had contacted him, and he said the woman had not been out of the Washington area.

Read more: http://www.wtop.com/1205/3724483/Pentagon-Sick-woman-claimed-Africa-trip#ixzz3GR3b6RDc


[...]

The military official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to comment publicly by name, said the woman was on a shuttle bus taking guests to a ceremony for Gen. Joe Dunford, who is taking over as commandant of the Marine Corps. She got off the shuttle before it left the Pentagon lot and then vomited.

Officials notified the FBI and were checking the woman's background and possible travel to West Africa.

According to defense officials, seven Pentagon officers who assisted the woman were being isolated and might be kept in a tent at the Pentagon overnight. Several people who were on the shuttle bus also have been isolated.

Always On Watch said...

The woman has not been yet tested for Ebola -- according to my local news on the TV screen right now.

Anonymous said...

There is no reason for this woman to not have been tested yet as this article reveals:

UKDailyMail: Dallas hospital that treated three Ebola patients had machine that can detect disease in just minutes
...but couldn't use it because it wasn't FDA approved
The Film Array can screen for Ebola with 90percent accuracy
It is being used by US military doctors in West Africa
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital had one of the $39,000 devices but could not use it to diagnose diseases
The military has given the Utah-based developer of the machine a $240million grant to perfect deadly virus detection