Advice Please. Alleged Pressure Washing of Vomit from Dallas Ebola Victim (Thomas Eric Duncan)

originally posted by: ketsuko

originally posted by: joho99
Any one got a elapsed time between him been sick and the pressure washing?
We are talking days here unless the news crew had prior knowledge of who it was.
That seems very sloppy by the cdc.

It's also possible that there was a cleanup procedure that we didn't see, and this is a follow-up wash.

Hey stop! Don't interject your facts into a good ol' game of jump to conclusions!

originally posted by: Answer
Hey stop! Don't interject your facts into a good ol' game of jump to conclusions!

I'm not sure if this was directed at me. I used the words alleged, vague, and bears investigation. As of yet there are no conclusions.

This is no game. We have a responsibility to each other to seek the truth.

My concern with the "vomiting all over the street" part of the story is that unless they were living in absolutely filthy place, somebody would have cleaned up most of it (the complex janitor or cleaning ladies) the same night Patient Zero went to the hospital, or at least the morning after, before it was clear to everyone that he had Ebola. That event would not have been caught on film like this much later cleaning.

a reply to: ketsuko

A clean up to clean the clean up days after the clean up?

a reply to: Nicorette

I considered the same line of reasoning. It doesn't really make sense that a news helicopter would have had the opportunity to film the event for the very reason you suggest. Presumably, nobody around him knew he had EBOLA.

However, pandora's box has been opened with channel 8's photo and the suggestive language in their headline. It seems like it would be foolish not to investigate this and see if we can determine what really happened.

originally posted by: joho99
A clean up to clean the clean up days after the clean up?

It's not unreasonable to believe that the apartment complex would have their staff hose the area down a second time out of fear. I may contact channel 8 tomorrow. I have a short list of calls I would like to make, but I suspect they will be busy.

a reply to: compressedFusion

Just looked at the video on this page CDC looking into whether Ebola patient lied on health forms

And from what i understand of what the reporter says that is them starting to clean up not a follow on clean up but the cdc had already taken care of it.

So it looks like this is just a normal clean up crew hired by the apartment manger after the cdc crew

a reply to: joho99

Thank you for the video. That provides some additional clarity.

I intend to keep digging. I will post any further information that I find.

I have contacted the company hired to do the cleanup of the apartment where Mr. Duncan stayed. The owner was very courteous and openly discussed with me what he knew about the case. I apologized in advance for taking up his time. I suspected that he was getting flooded with calls. His phone has in fact been ringing off the hook and he's trying to remain focused on keeping his crew safe.

I let him know that many people appreciate what he is doing from day to day (not just Ebola).

My intent of the phone call was to determine what he knew about the cleanup that occurred outside and to determine the correct agency for a TORA request. He said that he had seen the channel 8 footage as well but he wasn't sure. I let him know my concern about the way it was handled. He mentioned that isn't proper procedure for handling hazardous bio-material but reiterated that he wasn't sure that they were in fact cleaning bio-material.

Last night I made a list of 4 different agencies for potential contacts:

1.) CDC
2.) Texas Department of State Health Services
3.) Dallas County Health and Human Services
4.) Dallas County (General Office)

I managed to get a better contact within the county and I have already called and left a voice mail. I would like to request the information informally which would yield a quicker response than the 10 days they have to respond to a TORA request. I called them this morning, but I haven't received a phone call back.

I will keep people posted. I have an over-arching concern that the city, state, and federal government does not have a system in place to handle the problems associated with a disease like this. Admittedly these aren't easy problems to solve, but getting reliable information out quickly is key.

Update:

I spoke with the Dallas County purchasing department. They didn't have any record for cleanup around the apartment. The operator put me in touch with the Chief of Emergency Services with Homeland Security. I have left a message.

Ok, to clear up a couple things...

First, Storm Drain run-off and sanitary sewer lines are completely different systems, that end up in completely different places. Storm Drain run-off, which is where that power-washer spray would be going into is not treated. Does not come into the sanitary sewer line system, and is eventually ran into a pond, river, or low-laying area to be absorbed into the soil. Some places actually have it run into reservoirs where it's used by automatic sprayers for irrigation.

Second, sanitary sewer lines do not have pH changes... There is nothing at all that treats sanitary sewer run-off until it reaches the sanitation plant. You flush, that flush goes thru the piping in your house to the sewer lateral. it runs down the lateral until it hits the service-tap, where it is then dropped/dumped into the sanitation main line. It is literally gravity fed the entire way to the plant, raw and unaffected until it hits the "headworks" of the sanitation/water treatment plant.

So whatever he's spraying, is untreated by any sanitation system. And even if it was some reason fed into the sanitation line, it would not be treated until it hits the plant.

Update 2:

I spoke with the Chief of Emergency Services with Homeland Security here in Dallas. He informed me that there has been no decontamination done by the city. The city has contracted services for decontamination of the inside which will be happening soon.

I asked a follow up if whether or not he knew of any bio-material on the outside that may have required decontamination. He basically reiterated his original position and I didn't push him further.