A Freeport Middle School student was isolated from classmates Wednesday after telling another student that her father was being tested for the deadly Ebola virus – a statement that school officials quickly dispelled.
The school also sent a letter to parents to quell rumors and to warn that such false reports can have consequences.
Freeport’s false alarm is similar to others happening around the country since Thomas Eric Duncan became the first – and, so far, only – person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, putting hospitals, airports and the public on alert. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said it has received more than 800 calls a day this month from people who are concerned that they or someone else has contracted the deadly virus. Duncan, who contracted the virus in Liberia, died Wednesday.
According to one news report, an American passenger who was coughing on a flight to the Dominican Republic joked that he had been to Africa, prompting emergency workers in hazmat suits to board the plane after it landed. According to other reports, a high school student in Frisco, Texas, near Dallas, was arrested after posting a fake news article on Twitter that claimed there were cases of Ebola in that city.
A Pew survey found this week that 32 percent of Americans are very worried or somewhat worried that they or a family member will contract Ebola, The Washington Post reported Thursday.
The letter sent to Freeport Middle School parents Wednesday explained that the middle school student told a high school student on her bus that her father was being tested for Ebola because of a rash.
The high school student then told her parents, who contacted the middle school. School administrators “acted as if the student had been exposed” to the virus and separated her from others while contacting her parents to investigate the report, said the letter from middle school Principal Ray Grogan.
The student who started the rumor was further interviewed by the school nurse.
“Through these steps, it became clear there was no public health concern,” the letter said.
Dr. Sheila Pinette, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said Thursday that Freeport school officials acted appropriately in response to the information they received.
“They did what they were supposed to do,” she said. That included contacting the state CDC to alert the agency about the letter that went out to parents. Pinette said it was important for the school to communicate with CDC “just to make sure we’re on the same page.”
The letter to parents doesn’t say whether the student’s statement was an intentional hoax or the result of a misunderstanding, and school officials did not elaborate Thursday.
Pinette believes the middle school student misunderstood information given to her by her family about her father, who had recently seen a doctor for a different condition “with no compatible symptoms.”
Pinette said news of the episode spread quickly around the school. The letter to parents from the Freeport principal said the school wanted to share information about the incident to alleviate concerns that might arise as their children hear about what happened.
“Please affirm with them that there is no safety concern and emphasize that there are consequences of sharing inaccurate health information that cause a public scare,” the letter said.
Grogan, the principal, was not available for comment Thursday, according to his office. Regional School Unit 5 Superintendent Michael Lafortune released a short statement along with the letter.
“Our staff did a commendable job dealing with this difficult situation,” he said.
Lafortune did not respond to further questions about the incident, including whether the student was disciplined.
Symptoms of the Ebola virus, which appear within 21 days after exposure, include fever, diarrhea, vomiting and unexplained bleeding. The virus cannot be spread through the air and is transmitted through contact with the blood or bodily fluids of those who are infected and who are showing symptoms, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The world’s largest Ebola outbreak, which began in March, has sickened more than 8,000 people and killed more than 3,800, almost all of them in West Africa, according to the World Health Organization.
Georgia Health News reported Friday that an inmate at the Cobb County jail was tested for the virus after showing flu-like symptoms and telling jail officials he had recently traveled to Africa. The tests came back negative.
The same day, two staff members at a Gulfport, Missouri, hospital geared up in hazmat suits after staff received a call – later presumed a hoax – about an Ebola patient in town, according to WLOX 13 in Biloxi.
Fox News Latino on Thursday reported the incident aboard the flight from Philadelphia to the Dominican Republic, when an apparent joke triggered the emergency response after the plane landed. The plane was isolated for an hour until the threat was ruled out.
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