UPDATE: Sick Woman at Inova Fairfax Hospital Does Not Have Ebola

Ebola Virus/Credit: CDC

Update at 5:20 p.m. — The woman who vomited on a tour bus near the Pentagon Friday morning and set off quarantines across the region does not have Ebola, Fairfax and Arlington health department officials said Friday evening.

“Based on the public health investigation, which included the travel history of a woman who became ill this morning in a Pentagon parking lot, and on questioning of her by medical staff, medical authorities are confident that she does not have Ebola,” officials said in a statement.

(Updated at 5:00) A woman vomiting on a tour bus near the Pentagon Friday morning is being evaluated for possible symptoms of Ebola at Fairfax Inova Hospital.

County health officials said the woman is being kept in isolation while they get information about her health and travel history. Local health departments are working to find every person who had contact with the woman.

“The patient was immediately isolated and is undergoing triage in consultation with the Fairfax County Health Department,” Inova said in a statement. “Based upon that evaluation, a decision will be made by the health department as to whether the patient meets the criteria to be tested for the Ebola virus.”

The Centers for Disease Control will determine whether the woman should be tested for Ebola, Fairfax County Health Department officials said about 3 p.m.

The woman, whose age was not released, became ill on a tour bus in the Pentagon’s south parking lot about 9:10 a.m. Friday, according to a statement from Arlington County. When medics learned she had recently arrived from Africa, a hazardous materials team was called out of “a complete abundance of caution,” Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman told ARLnow.com.

The woman was initially taken to Virginia Hospital Center but did not exit the ambulance. The Arlington County Fire Department then transported her to Fairfax Inova Hospital, Arlington officials said. A news chopper photographer posted photos of emergency vehicles and an orange protective tent outside the 3300 Gallows Rd. hospital about 12:15 p.m.

Two officials with knowledge of the incident, plus the woman’s boss at a public relations firm, said they do not believe the patient had recently traveled outside the U.S., The Washington Post reported. Rather, the woman was suffering from a “severe illness” and might have boarded the wrong bus, her boss said.

The bus the woman briefly rode was quarantined for four hours near Barracks Row in D.C. and D.C. police closed an entire block, the Post reported. D.C. Department of Health officials told U.S. Marines and others on board — who had no contact with the woman — to take their temperatures twice a day for the next three weeks and report any irregularities.

An Inova representative said Thursday that he was “absolutely confident” the facility could treat Ebola patients. Officials said then that they planned to open a separate Ebola unit next week.

A Loudoun county inmate who had recently traveled in West Africa was taken to Inova Loudoun Hospital on Thursday after she was found to have a low-grade fever, the Post reported. The middle-aged woman “didn’t meet the threshold for Ebola testing,” the hospital said in a statement Friday morning. “All safety precautions and protocols were in place” at the Loudoun hospital, they said.

Recent Stories

An encampment has taken shape in recent years near the Sunrise Assisted Living in Reston (staff photo by Fatimah Waseem) A tent encampment housing between 20 and 35 individuals in…

Fairfax County Courthouse (staff photo by James Jarvis) The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering using kiosks equipped with artificial intelligence to provide select legal information in a variety…

Just a day after negotiations for a Washington Wizards and Capitals arena in Alexandria officially fell through, George Mason University has announced that it’s no longer planning to build a joint baseball and cricket stadium in Fairfax for the Washington Freedom.

Fox Mill Road in Herndon will be closed on April 1 (via VDOT) Fox Mill Road will be closed at the beginning of next month to allow for a pipe…

×

Subscribe to our mailing list