JACKSON, Miss– The fear of Ebola was on full display as parents rushed to get their children from Hazlehurst Middle School after the principal returned from Zambia, Africa. Here’s what you need to know.
The principal from Hazlehurst Middle School starts leave today after returning from his brother’s funeral in Africa. Even though Zambia has no recorded cases of Ebola and isn’t near Liberia, Sierre Leone, or Guinea, parents raced to pick up their children.
There is confusion as to how Ebola is spread. How is Ebola not airborne? If someone coughs near someone else, can’t that person get sick?
State Epidemiologist Dr. Thomas Dobbs says the virus doesn’t quite work that way.
“There’s airborne, and then there’s droplets, ” says Dr. Dobbs, “airborne floats in the air for hours, days, or months like Tuberculosis.”
But droplets, such as saliva or mucus from a cough or sneeze, don’t stay trapped in the air.
“If we look at how the virus is spreading, it’s just not spreading that way,” says Dr. Dobbs.
Dr. Dobbs also addresses the concerns with healthcare workers, saying that has added to the fear of the virus being airborne.
“The nurses who dealt with the Dallas Ebola patient, when he first walked in, they aren’t sick. It’s the ones that were there through the bleeding, vomiting and diarrhea.”
Dr. Dobbs mentioned on The Paul Gallo Show that even though the public reactions are in the media, he feels the fears are starting to go down, because he’s not getting as many calls from people concerned with exposure to the virus.
