From the Baton Rouge Advocate …
Fears of a national Ebola epidemic hit close to home in Baton Rouge on Friday night, when a Police Department precinct on Highland Road evacuated about 30 officers after a man suffering from dementia walked in saying he needed medical attention.
Although there was no evidence that the man suffered from Ebola-like symptoms, miscommunication over his origins led to concerns that he could have contracted the disease in Africa, said Cpl. L’Jean McKneely, a Baton Rouge Police spokesman.
Though there was no evidence that the man was suffering from a contagious disease or had traveled to West Africa, officers took the man to a local hospital for “evacuation” where it was discovered he had no fever and had a history of being treated at various local hospitals. The Highland Precinct was nonetheless sanitized before officers were allowed to return.
When authorities found out about the scare at the Police Department “about seven firefighters at Baton Rouge Fire Department Station 11 on Highland Road” were placed on lockdown and restricted from leaving the station, even though the supposedly sick man had never been on the premises.
A spokesman for the Fire Department “emphasized the move was not a quarantine because there were never plans to sanitize the building.”
(Thank you to TPM Reader BW for bringing this shining moment to my attention.)
