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EXCLUSIVE: Friend of Texas Ebola patient who visited him in hospital has been told he can return to work as nursing assistant... but his family must remain in quarantine Aaron Yah, wife Youngor Jallah and four children ages 2,4,6, and 11 have been quarantined Yah and Jallah visited Texas Ebola patient Thomas Duncan in hospital Jallah, whose eyes appeared sticky and whose children were coughing, said she touched Duncan - her stepfather to be - when she gave him tea CDC finally visited their flat last night and said Yah can go back to work His family must stay in quarantine, he says his work tasks will be limited Duncans girlfriend Louise Troh told MailOnline: Im fine as she is finally moved to another facility and a Hazmat team cleans the premises By Laura Collins In Dallas, Texas For Mailonline Published: 12:33 EST, 4 October 2014 | Updated: 17:29 EST, 4 October 2014 512 shares 51 View comments The friend of Texas Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, who visited the man on the day he was admitted to hospital has been told he can return to work as a nursing assistant. But the agony of uncertainty is not over for Aaron Yah, 43, and his family. In a confusing twist his wife, Youngor Jallah 35, Mr Duncan’s stepdaughter, as Ms Jallah and the couple’s four children aged between two and 11 have been told they must remain in quarantine with only Mr Yah free to come and go. Scroll down for video Allowed out: Aaron Yah, 43, will be released from his quarantine to work as a nursing assistant +6 Allowed out: Aaron Yah, 43, will be released from his quarantine to work as a nursing assistant Speaking to MailOnline at their small apartment in Dallas last night, Mr Yah revealed that CDC and State Health Authority officials had finally visited the family late yesterday evening. The family had been left a full 24 hours without information and cut off from all communication due to power cuts brought on by the violent electrical storms that hit the city on Thursday. He said: ‘I have been told I can go back to work but they will decide if there are duties I can do and duties I cannot. ‘They will give me a clearance document and speak to my employer. But they will still monitor me every day.’ RELATED ARTICLES Previous 1 2 Next Obama administration urges calm over U.S. Ebola case while constructing long-needed treatment... Bodies in barrows and patients writhing on dirty mattresses: Liberia struggles to contain Ebola... The bureaucratic bungling that has crippled Ebola response: Health officials admit rocky start to... It is a strange halfway house for the family, all of whom have been exposed to Mr Duncan during his most violent phase of symptoms. Mr Yah explained, ‘Youngor must stay here with the children because she had more contact than me. She was in the ambulance and she helped clean it and she tended to her father.’ Ms Jallah, also a nursing assistant, sat on a fold up chair outside the front door of the apartment that has been the family’s holding cell since Mr Duncan’s diagnosis last week. She expressed relief for her husband’s situation and explained the conflicting news delivered by the CDC officials who had left just moments before MailOnline arrived. She said: ‘They have said he can go out. I can sit here and the children can come outside this far but that we cannot go downstairs or any further than this.’ She gestured, drawing an imaginary boundary on the exterior stairwell, two chairs’ breadth from the apartment’s front door. The children, aged two, four, six and 11, smiled broadly, clearly delighted with even this small freedom. +6 +6 Danger: Thomas Duncan (left) is still being treated for Ebola in Texas, and Youngor Jallah must remain in isolation at home because she touched Duncan - her stepfather-to-be - when she gave him tea in hospital Sanitizing: A Hazmat team finally arrived to Duncans flat yesterday to sanitize the premises +6 Sanitizing: A Hazmat team finally arrived to Duncans flat yesterday to sanitize the premises Earlier Ms Jallah had appeared sticky eyed and congested but as dusk crept in she looked simply weary and glad for the fresh air now afforded her and her children. Ebola is only contagious when the infected person is exhibiting symptoms. But it can then be transmitted by an exchange of body fluids including blood, saliva, semen and feces if contact is at a point of entry like a cut or graze, mouth, nose or eyes. The entire family has had exposure during the time when Mr Duncan was exhibiting increasingly violent symptoms. My wife must stay here with the children because she had more contact than me. She tended to him and helped clean Aaron Yah Both Mr Yah and Ms Jallah visited the sick man on the day he was taken into hospital and the children all spent the night in the apartment where their grandmother often cared for them while their parents – both nursing assistants – worked. They are among the ten considered high risk by health officials yet the extent to which they have been left adrift in the midst of this crisis is breathtaking. Yesterday Ms Jalllah’s mother, Louise Troh, along with the other quarantined occupants of the Ivy Apartments unit in which Mr Duncan briefly stayed, was finally moved to another location as Hazmat suited teams moved in to begin the two phases of cleaning and securing the contaminated apartment. In a brief telephone conversation with MailOnline shortly before the family were moved Ms Troh insisted, ‘I am fine. Thank God we are all fine.’ She would not comment on her worries for the man who had travelled to this country from Liberia to marry her and who now lies in a hospital bed, too weak to pray or communicate with family. Ms Jallah last saw her mother when she visited the now empty Ivy Apartment last Sunday. She told the Washington Post that she found him in bed, fully dressed and shivering. After going to buy him a blanket she brought the man she calls Daddy some hot tea when she noticed redness in his eyes, a well publicized sign of Ebola. Evacuated: There are ten people who are considered high-risk, and were moved to an isolated apartment +6 Evacuated: There are ten people who are considered high-risk, and were moved to an isolated apartment Moving: Here an official can be seen leading a young man from the block in Dallas, Texas, to transportation +6 Moving: Here an official can be seen leading a young man from the block in Dallas, Texas, to transportation Ebola victims family quarantined under armed guard With his temperature at 102F, Ms Jallah who, like her husband Mr Yah is a nursing assistant, called 911. When the ambulance arrived Ms Jallah brought the blanket in which she had wrapped her stepfather to the hospital. Earlier this week Mr Yah told MailOnline his own brief conversation with his friend that day. He said, ‘The last time I saw Thomas was Sunday, the day he went to hospital. I had seen him after he went to hospital the first time and he was looking fine, he had been just fine. ‘But that day I passed by on Sunday he was lying down on the bed in the room and I asked him how he was. He said, “I’m not okay.” ‘He said he had been having diarrhea all night.’ Mr Duncan was diagnosed on Tuesday, and Mr Yah said that he was told the news the very day he was supposed to go back to work at the Meadows Nursing home. Last night, though visibly relieved at the news he had received from CDC and State Health officials Mr Yah said that he did not intend to return to work for several days at least. He said, ‘I am glad but right now I want to be here for my family. I need to look after them. Money is not easy but sometimes things are more important than money. ‘Family is more important.’ Read more: dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2780687/EXCLUSIVE-Friend-Texas-Ebola-patient-visited-hospital-told-return-work-nursing-assistant-family-remain-quarantine.html#ixzz3FE2nfU6w Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 04:50:30 +0000
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