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McLennan County Health Officials Stress Extremely Low Ebola Risks

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Three schools in Belton ISD where shut down today so they could be disinfected amid worries about the Ebola virus. The district learned that two of its students had been on the same flight as the most recent Ebola patient in Dallas. KWBU’s Jill Ament reports health officials in McLennan County stress there is still an extremely low risk for Ebola transmitting here.

Belton ISD says the students didn’t come into direct contact with the Dallas nurse on the plane. Kelly Craine with the Waco and McLennan County Public Health District says because of that the chance of the students contracting Ebola is extremely low.

“If you’re in contact with anyone they have to be symptomatic for there to be any risk at all," Craine said. "And if no one is symptomatic, then there isn’t any risk.” 

The CDC says Ebola can only be spread by direct contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is symptomatic of the virus. That means if they have a fever, if they’re vomiting etc. And the virus isn’t airborne. 

“The key is how much direct contact," Craine said. "So when you think about that, we don’t have anyone here who has had direct contact, up close contact. So that makes our risk very, very low.”

The health district works with schools in the county on how to manage infectious diseases. Craine says in the event of a potential exposure, the public health district would get in touch with the patient and connect them with resources like monitoring and temperature checks. As far as closing down a school for cleaning, Craine says that’s up to the school district’s discretion. 

“That’s really a guidance that we can tell the schools this is what we believe is the correct thing to do but if they want to take it further, if they want to close school, if they prefer to do other things, that’s  up to them,” Craine said.

Connally ISD says amid concerns about the Ebola virus, their district will implement extra cleaning procedures to prevent the spread of any germs in facilities.

Jill Ament is a reporter at KWBU. She hails from right here in Central Texas, growing up down the road in Gatesville. She graduated from Texas State University’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication in May of 2012.