At 5:15 am,(aprox) Est. Texas state health officials say a SECOND healthcare worker at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, in Dallas Texas has tested positive for the Ebola virus.

7:30am, est. LIVE Press Iconference in 1/2 an hour. At 8 am, est

The first healthcare worker condition has been upgrade to " fair".

76 other people may have been exposed.

Yep, just catching up on it.....

"" DALLAS — A second hospital worker who
helped care for Ebola patient Thomas Eric
Duncan has tested positive for the
disease, and local officials cautioned that
the prospect of more cases "is a real
possibility."
The unidentified health-care worker, who
was described as a woman who lived
alone, reported a fever Tuesday and was
immediately isolated at the Texas Health
Presbyterian Hospital.
At an early morning news conference,
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said he
could not rule out more cases among 75
other hospital staffers who cared for
Duncan and were being monitored by the
CDC.
"We are preparing contingencies for more
and that is a real possibility," Jenkins
said.
The Texas Department of State Health
Services said in a statement that a
preliminary Ebola test on the latest case
was conducted late Tuesday at a state
public health lab in Austin. A test to
confirm the result will be conducted at the
Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in Atlanta.""
Link.

Related....


"" Nurses at a Dallas hospital have claimed that
a haphazard and sloppy care system was
maintained during the treatment of Thomas
Eric Duncan, who became the first person to
die of the Ebola virus in America last week.
The caregivers at Texas Health Presbyterian
Hospital alleged that Duncan was left in an
open area of the hospital's emergency room
for hours and that nurses worked for days
without protective gear in a statement
released late Tuesday by the largest U.S.
nurses' union.
The statement from the nurses came two days
after one of their own, 26-year-old Nina
Pham, tested positive for the virus and entered
treatment at the hospital. She is listed as
being in stable condition. Pham was one of
over 70 staffers who cared for Duncan during
his illness and who are being monitored for
possible infection.
Deborah Burger of National Nurses United
claimed that the nurses were forced to use
medical tape to secure openings in their
garments, worried that their necks and heads
were exposed as they cared for a patient
whose symptoms included explosive diarrhea
and projectile vomiting.
RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of Nurses
United, said the statement came from
"several" and "a few" nurses, but she refused
repeated inquiries to state how many. She said
the organization had vetted the claims, and
that the nurses cited were in a position to
know what had occurred at the hospital. She
refused to elaborate.
Wendell Watson, a Presbyterian spokesman,
did not respond to specific claims by the
nurses but said the hospital has not received
similar complaints.
"Patient and employee safety is our greatest
priority and we take compliance very
seriously," he said in a statement. "We have
numerous measures in place to provide a safe
working environment, including mandatory
annual training and a 24/7 hotline and other
mechanisms that allow for anonymous
reporting."
He said the hospital would "review and
respond to any concerns raised by our nurses
and all employees."
Among the other allegations raised by the
nurses are that Duncan's lab samples were
allowed to travel through the hospital's
pneumatic tubes, opening the possibility of
contaminating the specimen delivery system.
The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste
was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
The statement also claimed that Duncan was
initially kept in a non-isolated area of the
hospital's emergency room for several hours
before being moved. Patients who were
exposed to him were allegedly only kept in
isolation for a day before being moved to be
with other patients. In the same vein, the
nurses claim that they were made to treat
other patients while also treating Duncan, and
were offered no more than an optional
seminar to deal with changing guidelines.
"There was no advance preparedness on what
to do with the patient, there was no protocol,
there was no system," Burger said.
Even today, Burger said, some hospital staff at
the Dallas hospital do not have proper
equipment to handle the outbreak.
"Hospital managers have assured nurses that
proper equipment has been ordered but it has
not arrived yet," she said.
The nurses' statement said they had to
"interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever
protective equipment was available," even as
he produced "a lot of contagious fluids."
Duncan's medical records, which his family
shared with The Associated Press, underscore
some of those concerns.
Almost 12 hours after he arrived in the
emergency room by ambulance, his hospital
chart says Duncan "continues to have
explosive diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea
and projectile vomiting." He was feverish and
in pain.
When Ebola was suspected but unconfirmed, a
doctor wrote "using the disposable shoe
covers should also be considered." At that
point, by all protocols, those shoe covers
should have been mandatory to prevent
anyone from tracking contagious body fluids
around the hospital.
A few days later, however, entries in the
hospital charts suggest that protection was
improving.
"RN entered room in Tyvek suits, triple gloves,
triple boots, and respirator cap in place," wrote
a nurse.
The Presbyterian nurses are not represented
by Nurses United or any other union. DeMoro
and Burger said the nurses claimed they had
been warned by the hospital not to speak to
the media or they would be fired. They did not
specify whether the nurses making the claims
were among Duncan's caregivers.
The AP has attempted since last week to
contact dozens of individuals involved in
Duncan's care. Those who responded to
reporters' inquiries have so far been unwilling
to speak.
David R. Wright, deputy regional administrator
for the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services, which monitors patient safety and
has the authority to withhold federal funding,
said his agency is going to want to get all of
the information the nurses provided.
"We can't talk about whether we're going to
investigate or not, but we'd be interested in
hearing that information," he said.
CDC officials did not immediately respond to
requests for comment.
Duncan first sought care at the hospital's ER
late on Sept. 25 and was sent home the next
morning. He was rushed by ambulance back
to the hospital on Sept. 28. Unlike his first
visit, mention of his recent arrival from Liberia
immediately roused suspicion of an Ebola risk,
records show.
The CDC said Tuesday 76 people at the
hospital could have been exposed to Duncan
after his second ER visit. Another 48 people
are being monitored for possible exposure
before he was hospitalized.
The Associated Press contributed to this
report.""
Link.

@WalkSoftly: There was so much yesterday on "the blame game"( the CDC, the administration) yesterday, it was ridiculous. And of course the conspiracy theories (which existed long before Ebola arrived in USA)
That I stopped reading it all.
If we would of taken the WHO advice we wouldn't be in this pandemic.

*Just in time for all those states that are canceling people's health care, that does NOT coincide with Obama Care*

@Zilya777: CDC director was interviewed last night and said that "we're learning as we go"....


Think abt that....head of the UNITED STATES CDC says we're learning as we go....why am I not surprised in this day and age.....

@WalkSoftly: I heard the Dallas Hosp. Press conference on the radio, the Administration there said " We are leaning. We
are the first hospital with
it, & have lost the first
health care worker "...


Then, he proceeded with "the nurse's dog is being taken care if and well care for"

Wtf!? I love my animals.. But sorry, I'm not interested in some strangers pet.
Fricken explain to me, "your learning" !!!

We had at LEAST TWO years to prepare & close our borders !!

He even said, " we the nurses had other people to take care of in the hallway "...
Well that is there job..


I almost smashed the radio.

Breaking news....


"" Newest Ebola patient flew day before diagnosis
Breaking News | October 15, 2014 | 11:15 AM EDT
The second healthcare worker who tested positive for
Ebola last night flew by air Oct. 13th, the day before
she reported symptoms, reported the Center for
Disease Control and Prevention in a release.
She flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 Cleveland to
Dallas/Fort Worth. The CDC is asking all 132
passangers on the flight to call *-***-***-****""
Link.

Had to redact the CDC phone number that was used for info on the flight. Its in the link.

Btw.....so a healthcare worker who was treating Mr.Duncan, ...after ANOTHER healthcare was diagnosed with Ebola......was allowed to fly?

Someone correct me if Im wrong....but wasnt the CDC monitoring all 70+ healthcare workers who treated Mr. Duncan? Or was it a "self monitoring" situation?

@WalkSoftly: It was "self monitoring". She took her own temp, then went to the hospital herself with a fever.
I hope she didn't stop to see a movie or go buy a snack on the way, or pick up any kids from soccer practice *sarcasm*. But apparently all those things, & more, could of happened.