United Airlines has released information on which flights Thomas Eric Duncan took to reach the United States. It then took several more days and two trips to the hospital before he was properly diagnosed and treated.
The Daily Mail reports that Duncan took two United flights on his journey to the United States. The first, Flight 951, took him from Brussels to Dulles airport in Virginia. Then he took Flight 822 from Dulles to Dallas/Fort Worth.
Duncan’s journey didn’t begin in Brussels but in Liberia where he took a Flight on another airline to reach Brussels. CBS in Dallas/Fort Worth speculated the initial flight was Brussels Airlines Flight 1247. Last night Got News received an itinerary from someone who claims to be a United employee. That itinerary also says Duncan was on Flight 1247, which left Liberia on September 18th and arrived in Brussels on Friday September 19th.
The NY Times reports that before leaving Liberia Duncan helped a family transport their very ill daughter, Marthalene Williams, to the hospital in a taxi. The hospital’s Ebola ward was full so they had to transport the woman back home. The 19-year old woman died later that night. Something similar almost happened to Duncan here in the U.S.
After arriving in Dallas Duncan became ill and presented himself at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. However there was miscommunication by the team that examined him and he was sent home with antibiotics. Two days later, Duncan was seen throwing up outside his apartment complex before being taken away in an ambulance.
NBC News reports that before Duncan returned to the hospital his nephew called the CDC directly to insure someone was aware of what was happening. “I called CDC to get some actions taken, because I was concerned for his
life and he wasn’t getting the appropriate care,” Josephus Weeks told NBC News. It was nearly two weeks from the day Duncan left Liberia to the moment his test results came back and were announced on television.
Everyone Duncan was in contact with during the time he was sick will need to be observed for any signs of illness for up to 21 days. Breitbart News reported earlier today that Texas health authorities have a list of 100 possible contacts they are working through.
Because Duncan was not ill during his flights, CDC has said there is no danger that anyone on board could be infected. Ebola is not transmitted through the air and a person does not become infectious until they begin exhibiting symptoms. Even then transmission requires direct contact with bodily fluids of the infected individual.
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