EBOLA PATIENT TOO SICK TO TALK ON THE PHONE: REPORT

‘He is just too sick to speak’: Dallas Ebola patient can no longer talk on the phone: report

Thomas Duncan, 42, has been isolated in a Dallas hospital room since Sunday, but can no longer communicate with family members. The news comes as cleaning crews began Friday to clean the contaminated apartment where Duncan first developed symptoms of the deadly disease.

BY Sasha Goldstein

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Published: Friday, October 3, 2014, 1:03 PM

Updated: Friday, October 3, 2014, 1:56 PM

Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, is so sick from Ebola that he can no longer speak on the phone, a relative said. Facebook Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, is so sick from Ebola that he can no longer speak on the phone, a relative said.

Thomas Duncan has become too weak to talk as the Liberian national battles the Ebola virus in an isolated Dallas hospital room, according to a report.

The 42-year-old patient, the first U.S.-diagnosed case of the deadly disease, was described by officials Thursday as in serious, but stable, condition. He’d been denied visitors since being taken Sunday by ambulance to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, but had communicated to family members over the phone.

By Friday, communication was cut off.
Duncan has been treated in an isolation room at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas since Sunday. LM Otero/AP Duncan has been treated in an isolation room at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas since Sunday.

"At first we were able to talk to him on the phone, but now he is just too sick to speak," the man’s nephew, Joe Weeks, told ABC News.

Weeks, who lives in North Carolina with his Duncan’s sister and mother, had previously said he contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Protection, as well as the Texas Department of Health Services, after learning that Duncan had been turned away last week from the hospital emergency room.
A haz-mat clean-up crew arrives at The Ivy Apartments, where the confirmed Ebola virus patient was staying, on October 2, 2014 in Dallas. The crew began to clean Friday and expected the process to take six hours. Tom Pennington/Getty Images A haz-mat clean-up crew arrives at The Ivy Apartments, where the confirmed Ebola virus patient was staying, on October 2, 2014 in Dallas. The crew began to clean Friday and expected the process to take six hours.

“They had him in the ER, like any other patient, and I didn’t think that was the right procedure,” Weeks told ABC. “I don’t know how long it was going to take, but I wasn’t trying to wait to see how long it was going to take, so I pre-empted and called CDC and reported that there might be a possible Ebola case in Texas. But the hospital was not doing what it needed to do at that time.”

The news comes as cleaning crews finally descended Friday on the Ivy Apartment complex, where Duncan spent his days after arriving Sept. 20 in Dallas. He first fell ill last Thursday, but was sent home from the hospital before being rushed by ambulance to the facility on Sunday.
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The apartment, where Duncan’s partner, Louise Troh, lives with her 13-year-old son and two nephews, had not been disinfected until crews started Friday morning. The “Cleaning Guys” has sent a crew of six to eight people inside to decontaminate the two-bedroom, 1,000-square foot abode, the company told ABC.

The cleaning will likely take six hours.

"We work closely with cities as hazmat responders and we have contracts with the city," company Vice President Brad Smith told ABC. "We train for this type of thing. Obviously, we haven't trained for Ebola because there hasn't been a situation in Texas until now."