14 DAY TRIAL // The US has until now had to deal with three Ebola patients. Despite health officials' claims that the general public has nothing to fear and that things are well under control, it looks like ordinary folks in the country are very much afraid of the deadly virus.
Some are so afraid of the Ebola virus that they don't mind going out in public wearing the most bizarre outfits, just as long as these outfits promise to keep them safe from contracting the terrifying disease that has so far killed over 4,000 people in West Africa.
Not to beat about the bush, it was this past weekend that Twitter user Joe Henchman snapped a photo of a woman who made sure to put on a hazmat suit before visiting the Dulles International Airport in Washington DC, BuzzFeed informs.
The photo, available next to this article, was shared with the online community not too long after it was taken, and it has since gone viral. Thus, it's been shared thousands of times, and it has even been featured in several publications around the world.
The homemade hazmat suit
As noticeable in the photo, the unidentified woman was so desperate to make sure that she would not be infected while at the Dulles International Airport in Washington DC that she put on several blue garbage bags, surgical gloves, and even a mask.
What's more, she made sure that the garbage bags fit her body as neatly and as securely as a proper hazmat suit would have. Apparently, she felt so safe and at ease in this odd outfit of hers that she didn't mind sitting next to other folks, patiently waiting for her flight.
The reason why this woman saw fit to put on garbage bags, gloves, and a mask before going to the Dulles International Airport of all places was because this airport was the one that received US' first Ebola patient, 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan, towards the end of September.
Three cases and hopefully done counting
Shortly after 42-year-old Thomas Eric Duncan passed away while in isolation at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, two of the healthcare workers that helped look after him were also diagnosed with the deadly disease.
The two nurses now find themselves in isolation as well, and health officials are doing their best to track down the people that they might have come into contact with while contagious and put them under observation until it is made clear that they are not sick.
An Ebola patient is only contagious after they start displaying symptoms such as a sore throat, fever, headaches, and muscle pain. As the disease progresses, vomiting, diarrhea, and rashes also occur, specialists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explain.
Healthy individuals can only contract this disease by coming into contact with an infected person's bodily fluids. Hence, health officials reassure that there is absolutely no need for people to walk around wearing garbage bags on their heads.