As many of you may have seen on facebook, we are at Ebola ground zero! Our house is only 3 miles away from the infamous Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. The latest nurse to become infected does in fact live in our apartment complex, in a building just around the corner and across the street-ish.
At first on Wednesday as we woke up to helicopters and cop cars, we were nervous. Not panicked or hysterical, but I think pretty understandably on edge a little.
I couldn't quite pin down where exactly and what building she lived in, and I was concerned about what common areas we might have shared. Although ebola isn't transmitted super easily, we did stand at risk more than most because we could have shared a pool, a fitness center, and a laundry room (all places where sweat could easily be transferred, not to mention other bodily fluids).
To be honest, the most concerning thing was the lack of information. Unlike what the internet or news may have told you last Wednesday, information was NOT distributed by police to everyone within a four block radius and the apartment complex management did NOT inform all residents of what was going on. We live very close and had continued helicopters circling and cops and Hazmat trucks -- and yet had no idea what the impact on us would be. So I wanted to keep my toddler safe and stayed pretty isolated. Thursday we finally got first contact with a generic flyer from the City of Dallas about a healthcare worker near us contracting Ebola. Friday we finally got word from apartment management that her apartment was finished being cleaned by Hazmat and that they had cleaned the gym.
Our ward was cautious, too--a reasonable thing as ebola had now reared its head in the complex where probably 30% of the ward lives. But with no more cases and very low risk (after all, as we know she had been on a plane and hanging out in Ohio and not at the apartment complex!) all ward activities were kept normal.
We're living life as normal. We don't think we'll get Ebola. We don't have any fevers or flu-like symptoms, and now we know that we didn't even share a pool with her. Just like we promise our mothers, we'll be very careful. But we don't think we're doomed to get it.
On the other hand, we understand if people don't really want to visit us over the next, say, 21 days to wait it out.
We have refrained from sending texts to people that say "Jason's running a bit of a fever this morning, think he's okay to still go to work?" or a "I just threw up, think I should get checked out?" If you know me well, you might have an idea of how hard this has been to resist.
But we would be more than happy to send packages with fake bodily fluids or ebola samples to any of your paranoid, hypochondriac friends!
At first on Wednesday as we woke up to helicopters and cop cars, we were nervous. Not panicked or hysterical, but I think pretty understandably on edge a little.
I couldn't quite pin down where exactly and what building she lived in, and I was concerned about what common areas we might have shared. Although ebola isn't transmitted super easily, we did stand at risk more than most because we could have shared a pool, a fitness center, and a laundry room (all places where sweat could easily be transferred, not to mention other bodily fluids).
To be honest, the most concerning thing was the lack of information. Unlike what the internet or news may have told you last Wednesday, information was NOT distributed by police to everyone within a four block radius and the apartment complex management did NOT inform all residents of what was going on. We live very close and had continued helicopters circling and cops and Hazmat trucks -- and yet had no idea what the impact on us would be. So I wanted to keep my toddler safe and stayed pretty isolated. Thursday we finally got first contact with a generic flyer from the City of Dallas about a healthcare worker near us contracting Ebola. Friday we finally got word from apartment management that her apartment was finished being cleaned by Hazmat and that they had cleaned the gym.
Our ward was cautious, too--a reasonable thing as ebola had now reared its head in the complex where probably 30% of the ward lives. But with no more cases and very low risk (after all, as we know she had been on a plane and hanging out in Ohio and not at the apartment complex!) all ward activities were kept normal.
We're living life as normal. We don't think we'll get Ebola. We don't have any fevers or flu-like symptoms, and now we know that we didn't even share a pool with her. Just like we promise our mothers, we'll be very careful. But we don't think we're doomed to get it.
On the other hand, we understand if people don't really want to visit us over the next, say, 21 days to wait it out.
We have refrained from sending texts to people that say "Jason's running a bit of a fever this morning, think he's okay to still go to work?" or a "I just threw up, think I should get checked out?" If you know me well, you might have an idea of how hard this has been to resist.
But we would be more than happy to send packages with fake bodily fluids or ebola samples to any of your paranoid, hypochondriac friends!
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