Amber Vinson, 2nd Ebola Infected Nurse Called CDC Several Times Before Flying; 'Somebody Dropped the Ball,' Says Health Official

 Leonardo Blair , CP Reporter

(Photo: Contributed)

Amber Vinson, 26, is the second nurse infected with Ebola in the U.S.

As President Barack Obama attempted to calm fears about the spread of the deadly Ebola virus Wednesday, one health official has charged that someone at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "dropped the ball" in allowing Amber Vinson, the second nurse infected with the virus to fly.
Vinson, 26, was one of the nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who cared for Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, who was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S. this year. Vinson was confirmed as the second Dallas healthcare worker diagnosed with Ebola just a day after she took Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland to Dallas with 132 other passengers on Oct. 13.
An unidentified health official charged in a CBS report Wednesday that Vinson called the CDC several times to report that she had a fever with a temperature of 99.5 degrees before flying. Since her fever was not 100.4 degrees or higher, she didn't fall into the "high risk" category and was allowed to fly.