Concern in complex where Ebola patient stayed
DALLAS — Jay Ali moved to the Ivy Apartments in Dallas from Africa. Now he can't believe Ebola has come to his backyard.
"It's shocking," he said. "It's a big disaster we wasn't expecting ... an Ebola patient here in the apartment complex."
That patient — Thomas Eric Duncan — was visiting the Ivy Apartments when he was stricken.
Ali and many other people who live there said they've received no information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or Dallas County Health and Human Services. The potential for confusion is compounded by the fact that so many languages are spoken here.
City Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates went to the apartments to try and reassure the residents in her district.
"We at the city just want to make sure that our residents know that they're safe, and know that we're doing everything we can," she said.
The city said it activated its reverse 911 call system to contact about 11,000 people in the area. But many residents say that is little comfort to them, since they don't even know what apartment Duncan had been staying in when he fell ill.
"I am scared, because there is a lot of children out here, and for a lot of us, this is something new to us," said resident Attalie Barrios.
But health authorities are trying to reassure the residents there is zero risk of being infected unless they had direct contact with the Ebola patient.