No protective

Clipboard guy' with no hazmat suit causes stir

Footage of a man wearing no protective clothing while an Ebola patient is put on a plane in Dallas has caused a stir in the US where officials admit mistakes were made dealing with the deadly disease.

The man, who was wearing trousers and a shirt and carrying what appears to be a clipboard, is being widely referred to as clipboard guy.

His employer will not identify him but said he was completely safe, although some experts have voiced concerns.

The man was seen on live TV on Wednesday (local time) as Dallas nurse Amber Vinson was put on the plane taking her to Atlanta, where she was admitted to Emory University Hospital.

Four medical workers in the footage were wearing white hazmat suits, while Vinson was covered in yellow protective gear.

Air ambulance company Phoenix Air Group said the man with the clipboard was its medical supervisor. Protocols were followed with no violations and it had been all right for the man to work without protective gear.

It was best if at least one person on a medical crew did not wear a hazmat suit. Those people were the eyes and ears of the crew, and knew how far to stay away from patients, a company representative said.

The people wearing hazmat suits had little peripheral vision, smell or hearing.

The man with the clipboard at one point reached toward the stretcher used to carry Vinson just seconds after she stepped off it. The man grabbed what appeared to be a container from another worker.

After Vinson was put on the plane, a worker in a hazmat suit emerged and handed the man an empty red bag, which he took and held open. The workers then appeared to place blankets and other items in another red bag, before tying it shut.

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The mystery man got on the plane with Vinson and was seen at the other end in Atlanta.

Dr Peter Walsh, a lecturer in Primate Quantitative Ecology at the University of Cambridge, told The Independent that just standing in the vicinity without wearing a protective suit was relatively low risk.

"Touching one of the suited people and, particularly, accepting an object carried by that person is a serious breach of protocol."

Derek Macallan, a professor of Infectious Disease and Medicine at St George's, University of London, said the footage of Vinson getting on board the plane was "intriguing".

The video suggested workers were "double protecting" to ensure the infection source was contained by having both staff and the patient in protective gear in case a breach occurred.

"Since it didn't, I can't see a problem," he said.

"But with this double approach it must be really hard to keep consistency about where the clean/contaminated line is drawn. It looks as if a suited individual taps the guy in slacks on the shoulder.

"This he should not have done if he should have considered the outside of his suit 'dirty'. He clearly did not."

Phoenix Air said it had transported 11 patients with Ebola in the past two months and no healthcare worker on its team had become infected.

Article from www.stuff.co.nz

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