Montgomery County Schools Establish Plan for Potential Ebola Case

Responding to recent cases of Ebola within the U.S. -- including a nurse just released from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda -- Montgomery County officials have created an action plan in case a student shows symptoms of the virus.

In this new policy, administrators within the Montgomery County Public School system will ask about the travel history of students, their parents or guardians, and any close contacts if a student has a fever of at least 100.5 along with one other symptom of Ebola, which include vomiting, muscle pain, or unexplained bleeding.

If school officials learn students have come in close contact with someone who traveled to a country experiencing an Ebola outbreak, the student will be temporarily quarantined. Since the incubation period of the virus is 21 days, travel history of the past three weeks is imperative when identifying a potential Ebola case.

Senior Administrator for School Health Services at the County Health Department Joan Glick told the Fairfax Times that county health officials have suggested schools use their infirmaries as a control room. There, health staff members would contact the local Disease Control and Epidemiology program to assess if the child should be taken to the hospital.

Although this updated procedure reflects a growing concern for an instance of outbreak in the U.S., Glick emphasizes in her interview that simply visiting countries like Liberia, Guinea, and other areas of West and Central Africa in the past month does not automatically suggest an Ebola case, and that this protocol was created under the premise of “in an abundance of caution.”

Patch file photo

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