Marine under voluntary Ebola quarantine

Posted 2014-10-17 13:21 by Grunt Report

An active-duty Marine has gone under voluntary quarantine and is watching for possible Ebola symptoms after learning he was on a flight with a nurse who is undergoing treatment for Ebola, a Marine Forces Reserve spokesman said Thursday.

The Marine, stationed at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth, is related to a student attending Lake Pointe Elementary School in Fort Worth.

Eagle Mountain-Saginaw Independent School District sent a letter to parents of students and posted a notice on the school’s website Thursday alerting them of the potential contact.

The student’s Marine family member flew Monday on Frontier Flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas, the same flight as a nurse infected with the virus, and will be in isolation for 21 days, district spokeswoman Amanda Moore said.

“This family has one child who attends Lake Pointe Elementary,” the school district release said. “District officials will be in regular communication with the family as well as officials from the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.”

Adam Bashaw, deputy chief of staff for public affairs at Marine Forces Reserve New Orleans said the service will not reveal the Marine’s identity to protect his family’s privacy.

“He did the right thing by volunteering that he was on the flight and quarantining himself,” Bashaw said.

According to Bashaw, the Marine was on leave when he flew on Flight 1143 and imposed a self-quarantine as soon as he learned he had been on the same flight as Amber Joy Vinson, who tested positive for the Ebola virus Tuesday. The Marine was never on base after getting off the flight, Bashaw said.

The district said no members of the family are exhibiting any symptoms.

Another nurse who cared for Liberian Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan also has been diagnosed with the virus and is slated to be moved to a treatment center at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Duncan died Oct. 8.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials are contacting all 132 passengers on the flight.

Staff writer David Larter contributed to this story.

SOURCE: Marine TImes
BY: Oriana Pawlyk and Patricia Kime