Ebola

CDC Director Tom Frieden, who is unofficially leading the U.S. response to Ebola says the virus becoming airborne is a possible but unlikely outcome in the current epidemic:

The rate of change [with Ebola] is slower than most viruses, and most viruses don’t change how they spread. That is not to say it’s impossible that it could change [to become airborne]. That would be the worst-case scenario. We would know that by looking at … what is happening in Africa. That is why we have scientists from the CDC on the ground tracking that.

The disease kills roughly half the people it infects, and lacking a vaccine or cure, its traceable chain of transmission through bodily fluids is one reason officials believe they can contain it.

Africa Command commander Gen. David Rodriguez tells a Pentagon briefing that U.S. personnel will handle lab samples from Ebola patients. The majority of the 3,000-4,000 personnel deployed will not have direct contact with patients.

The health and safety of the team supporting this mission is our priority.

Rodriguez had previously said some U.S. personnel would have direct contact with patients, but later clarified the remark.

A Dallas County sheriff’s deputy is possibly infected with the Ebola virus. Deputy Monnig had spent time in the apartment of the late Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, although he did not have direct contact with him. His son thinks that the symptoms are not related to Ebola, and that his father will therefore not test positive for the virus:

He was in the apartment for 30 minutes, which we were told is no chance to contact the virus

Federal officials announce that temperature screening of passengers arriving from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea will start at New York’s Kennedy International as early as this weekend, and at Washington Dulles International, O’Hare International, Hartsfield-Jackson International and Newark Liberty International next week. About 90% of passengers from the three countries arrive via these five airports, with 43% flying via Kennedy alone. Of 36,000 passengers who left the three countries in the past two months, about a quarter came to the U.S., and 77 had Ebola-like symptoms but none had the virus.

Obama appears to contradict CDC advice in a video message to residents of west Africa:

You cannot get it through casual contact like sitting next to someone on a bus.

CDC advice to travelers to west Africa worried about Ebola:

Limit your contact with other people when you travel to the doctor; avoid public transportation.

Officials in hazmat suits board U.S. Airways passenger flight 85 out of Philadelphia on landing in the Dominican Republic, after a passenger apparently joked about having the virus. A passenger who recorded the incident:

Once we landed in Punta Cana we were told by the flight attendants that there was a situation and that a passenger may have been in Africa and had Ebola. She was certain it was a hoax but they did not take any chances and had a full hazmat crew board the plane and take the passenger off. It was later confirmed that the passenger was never in Africa and after 2hrs we were finally able to get off the plane.

An additional 100 U.S. Marines arrive in Monrovia on four MV-22 Ospreys and two KC-130s, increasing the number of American troops in Liberia to just over 300. Sierra Leone President Ernest Bai Koroma:

Our people are dying

The UK introduces enhanced screening measures at Heathrow, Gatwick and Eurostar terminals for passengers arriving from Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Cameron:

Quite rightly, we’re taking all the steps we can to keep our own people safe here in the UK. What we do is we listen to the medical advice and we act on that advice and that’s why we’re introducing the screening processes at the appropriate ports and airports.

There are no direct flights to the UK from the affected areas but people can fly via Paris or Brussels.