The nation’s first case of Ebola is here in Dallas, after a patient at Texas Healthcare Presbyterian was first seen, sent home, then returned to get a full-fledged diagnosis of Ebola. (Full disclosure: My husband is a physician on staff there.) The patient is now in isolation. Turns out that when he was sent home on Sept. 25 from his first visit to the Presby ER, armed with antibiotics aimed at treating a stomach virus or something, he may have infected others, including children. Including every one he came into contact with.
By the way, they have isolated a patient in Honolulu now, too. Get ready to be placed in isolation now if you go to the ER with a stomach ache and have recently travelled.
Now we hear that the Ebola patient may have been in contact with up to 100 people during the time when he should have been isolated. The Observer has the latest updates, and here is a decent piece from Politico on how the Ebola epidemic is about to get worse. The New York Times reports on how he may have contracted the illness: he worked as a driver in Liberia, and he helped transport a pregnant woman in Monrovia, the Liberian capitol, who had Ebola, could not get medical care, and who later died.
Of course, at first they said Ebola was a wimpy virus that could not be airborne: now some are saying it may be.
We don’t know how this is going to go. Officials are telling us how you have to come into direct contact with the bodily fluids in order to catch this dreaded disease, but most of us still have the movie Outbreak seared in our minds.
Recall that scene in the movie theater where the guy sneezed and the epidemic began? IF more people become infected, and IF the city has to begin a wide-scale quarantine program, how would this affect Real Estate? Would you cancel Open Houses?
The students in the classes attended by the potentially=affected children the Ebola patient was around, the ambulance driver, and others are already under a court-ordered quarantine in their homes. Airline stocks are taking a nose-dive.
And home builders: Do you know where your subs live? Could they have come in contact with the patient? (I refuse to use the patient’s name because the poor man’s HIPPA rights have been totally violated by the media, who have his name on blast.) Could they? Sub contractors — let’s face it — usually live in apartment complexes and sometimes share apartments with family members. High-density living in close quarters could lead to transmission.
I’m just thankful that, of all the cities Ebola had to hit first, it was Dallas, where there is less density, less frequent use of public transportation, and fabulous health care … even if one hospital was caught with its pants down. Stay calm, be clean, wash hands, and wear a mask if you are really concerned. This too, shall pass, but we really need to hold our government to the fire to keep us safe in this mega global age. Authorities say it is not necessary to ban travel from the Ebola-stricken countries of West Africa, but I’m not so sure.
Thoughts? Tell us, are you taking measures with your business to curb the risk of Ebola? Are you cancelling showings in certain areas or cancelling open houses? Are you concerned?
