Dallas County’s top public health epidemiologist confirmed Thursday that she spent time at Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan’s bedside and that she is among those potentially exposed to the virus.
Dr. Wendy Chung has remained on the front lines of the government’s response to the outbreak since Duncan’s diagnosis, working alongside federal, state and local health authorities as she undergoes monitoring for any signs of the potentially deadly disease...Dr. Barry Rosenthal, chairman of Emergency Medicine at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, said that while he cannot speak to the situation in Dallas, it’s neither typical nor advised for an epidemiologist to enter an isolation room and interview a contagious patient. Their role in outbreaks, he said, is to track cases to find out who else might have been exposed, research that can be conducted by phone or video monitor to avoid potential contact.
In addition, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Tom Frieden has said that too many health workers had contact with Duncan, and he announced steps this week to minimize the number of people in the room with Ebola patients.
Chung was not immediately available for further comment.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, who is responsible for the county’s disaster and emergency preparedness, said he and Chung have been working side by side throughout the outbreak. Jenkins said their pace has been so intense at a hospital command center that they’ve set up a room with cots where Chung and others can rest.
He said he has not heard she was being monitored in any way, “and it would be surprising if I wouldn’t know that.”