‘Extra Precaution’: Worried About Ebola, Airline Travelers Don Masks
By Phil LeBeau
NBCNews.com
October 16th 2014
Corbin Fawley knew he stood out on his Frontier Airlines flight from Denver to Dallas.
But that was fine with him.
Fawley wore a surgical mask and rubber gloves to give himself what he considered an extra level of protection against the Ebola virus, even though it’s not airborne. Instead, it’s spread through contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person who is showing symptoms of the virus.
“I am not losing anything by putting on gloves and a mask. It is just an extra precaution,” Fawley said from the baggage claim area.
“How can they [the federal government] significantly regulate something like this? I mean, that’s why I was taking matters into my own hands to protect myself from it,” he said.
Fawley is one of many travelers worried the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doesn’t fully understand the threat of the Ebola virus. His comments came earlier Thursday, before the White House said it is still against putting in place a travel ban on West African countries.
Meanwhile, the CDC is reaching out to 132 people who were on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143 with Amber Vinson, the second Ebola-stricken Texas nurse. Vinson arrived in Ohio on Friday Oct. 10 and returned to Dallas Monday night. On Tuesday, she was diagnosed with a fever and later tested positive for Ebola.
The Rest…HERE
