1976 – Ebola is first discovered in what is now the Democratic Republic of Congo near the Ebola River. Thirty-two Ebola outbreaks would follow, bringing the total number of cases before this outbreak to 2,361, including 1,438 deaths, according to the WHO.
March 19, 2014 – What would become the largest Ebola outbreak in history begins in March 2014 with 23 deaths from what is then called a “mystery” hemorrhagic fever.
Aug. 2, 2014 – Dr. Kent Brantly is flown from Liberia to Emory for treatment. He surprises everyone by walking out of the ambulance into the hospital in his protective suit.
Aug. 5, 2014 – Missionary Nancy Writebol is flown from Liberia to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, for Ebola treatment in its isolation ward.
Sept. 5, 2014 – Dr. Rick Sacra arrives at Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. He eventually gets a blood transfusion from Dr. Kent Brantly, the American missionary who survived his bout with Ebola.
Sept. 9, 2014 – An unnamed American Ebola patient arrives at Emory University Hospital for treatment. This patient had been working for the WHO in Sierra Leone.
Sept. 20, 2014 – Thomas Duncan arrives in the United States from Liberia to visit family.
Oct. 5, 2014 – Sacra hospitalized in Massachusetts with what doctors fear is an Ebola relapse. They isolate him out of what they said was an abundance of caution.
Oct. 6, 2014 – Ashoka Mukpo, 33, a freelance American cameraman who contracted Ebola in West Africa, arrives at Nebraska Medical Center for Ebola treatment.
Oct. 12, 2014 – Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas says that nurse Nina Pham has tested positive for Ebola. Pham is a nurse at the hospital and had tended to Thomas Duncan.
Oct. 13, 2014 – Amber Vinson flies from Cleveland to Dallas on Frontier Airlines Flight 1143, arriving at 8:16 p.m. She has no symptoms, but her temperature was 99.5 degrees that morning, according to health officials. She notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before boarding, and no one told her not to fly.
Oct. 14, 2014 – Vinson is taken to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas with a fever.
Oct. 16, 2014 – Nina Pham is flown from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas to the National Institutes of Health hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. Pham treated Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, where she works.
Oct. 23, 2014 – Dr. Craig Allen Spencer is diagnosed with Ebola the same day he went into isolation at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
Oct. 27, 2014 – A five-year-old boy was transported to Bellevue hospital in New York with symptoms of Ebola. The boy tested negative for Ebola that same evening.
With the exception of Thomas Duncan, who passed away, all of these patients have been declared virus-free and have been released. Kaci Hickox, who was detained in New Jersey and put in quarantine, tested negative twice for Ebola. She is now at her home in Maine. At this time, there is only one known case of Ebola in the U.S. – Dr. Craig Spencer in New York.
Though the state of Maine has a quarantine order on Hickox, she supposedly defied it by taking a bike ride on Thursday. She has stated that she feels healthy. Oddly, reporters in Maine routinely come within one or two feet of Hickox while questioning her.
On Friday, New York governor Cuomo and New Jersey governor Christie announced a mandatory quarantine for people who had been in West Africa and had contact there with people infected with Ebola. Illinois and other states soon followed suit.
California on Wednesday became the latest state to order a 21-day quarantine for travelers who have been in close contact with Ebola patients.
In an attempt to avoid the criticism lodged against New York, New Jersey and Maine that had blanket quarantine orders, California will allow county health agencies to impose the quarantine on a case-by-case basis.
It is unclear when the former patients intend on returning to work.
OK, Fine. 