So, to make it clear again: the passengers of interest - a 59 year old female lab supervisor from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospitaland her male partner a 60 year old, did not disembark in Belize, and they did not leave the quarantine area in the ship, and they are not presently showing any signs of having Ebola - but this will not be known for sure until the next four days or so - when the 21 day incubation period ends. She is on her 19th day since she was exposed and she is showing no symptoms.
But then, there's public concern that maybe the nearly 3,800 cruise visitors from the Carnival Magic who did come unto land could have been infected on the ship and could be carrying the virus, and could have spread it to those Belizeans they came in contact with.
Again, not a possibility. All the information on Ebola shows it is not contagious during the incubation period. It is only contagious when the symptoms are present. Second, it is not an airborne virus like the flu; it had to be transmitted by bodily fluids.
Still, there are concerns: first for the boarding party and the pilot. First, the boarding party is the crew of immigration officials who have to go on board each cruise ship and review the manifests. Second, the pilot is the Belizean port authority employee who actually steers to ship into port, past the English Caye Channel. Well, those persons are being monitored by the Ministry of Health in Belize - but again, they would not have come in contact with any bodily fluids from any infected persons, and, we stress again, the two passengers of interest, are not known to be infected.
Ok, so then what about the immigration staffers who handled the passports? Well, the passport came in a plastic bag - and today at the press conference, the Director of Immigration outlined the procedure she had specified:..
Maria Marin, Director of Immigration
"The officers were given specific instructions that when the shipping agent handed over those passports, that it was to be placed by the shipping agent in a plastic bag or container and that the shipping agent was the one that was going to pass in on to the Coast Guard officers and it was confirmed to me that my officers did follow that procedure."
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