This reporter's parents are on the bus. Here's the whole story:
http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/41250/title/Ebola-Scare-in-DC/
An ill woman who claims to have recently arrived from Africa was taken by ambulance to Virginia Hospital Center, and emergency measures are being carried out to ensure that, if Ebola is at fault, that the virus is not spread, ARLnow.com reported. Passengers on the bus have been in quarantine for the past three hours, but the mood on the bus is calm, according to my parents, George and Barbara Akst, who happened to be on the vehicle when the woman got on and off in the Pentagon parking lot.
The bus was parked and waiting at the Pentagon when my parents arrived this morning around 8:30 a.m. It was the second bus in a row of three, all waiting to shuttle people to this morning’s Change of Command ceremony for the Marine Corps Commandant.
My dad, a senior analyst at the Marine Corps, and mom got on the bus around 8:45 and sat in the first row. Other people continued to file in. Then, an African American woman carrying several large bags got on and moved to the back of the bus. Passengers reported that she used the bathroom. A few minutes later, she exited, with her hand over her stomach as if she had severe cramps, my mom described to me on the phone. “She looked like she was sick.”
The woman moved out of view at that point, but word eventually got back to the passengers that she had passed out. A hazmat team was called out of “a complete abundance of caution,” with regard to Ebola, a Pentagon Force Protection Agency spokesman Chris Layman told ARLnow.com.
The bus departed for the Marine Corps barracks at 8th and I Streets in Washington, DC, at 9:15, but when it arrived, the Marine Corps protocol officers told them to shut the door and stay on the bus. The passengers remained on the bus until 11:30, at which point they were transferred to a new bus, which did “not have any sanitizer [in] the bathroom,” my mom told me. “No soap and no water.” Authorities closed the street they are on, with cop cars blocking traffic and crime scene tape running across the street behind the bus. Then, at 11:45, supplies finally arrived: water, hand santizer, garbage bags, vitamin C pills, and granola bars.
The atmosphere is not panicked, my mom told me. “There is one young gentleman with a little concern because his wife is four-months pregnant . . . [but] everyone’s calm.”
Stayed tuned for more updates from my parents as this story unfolds. It seems like they aren’t going to make it to the Change of Command this morning after all.
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